Hindu Mahasabha calendar refers to Mecca as a temple

LUCKNOW: On the occasion of the Hindu New Year, the Hindu Mahasabha, Aligarh, on Sunday released a controversial Hindu New Year calendar in which seven mosques and monuments from the Mughal era, including the Taj Mahal, and the holy Muslim site of Mecca, have been referred to as “Hindu temples”.

Following the chants of several ultra-Right Hindu leaders, the calendar refers to the Taj Mahal as “Tejo Mahalaya temple”; the Holy Ka’aba at Mecca has been called the “Macceshwar Mahadev temple”. Similarly, Madhya Pradesh’s Kamal Maula Mosque has been referred to as “bhojshala” and Kashi’s Gyanvyapi mosque has been called the “Vishwanath temple”, Qutab Minar “Vishnu Stambh”, Jaunpur’s Atala mosque “Atala devi temple” and the demolished Babri Masjid in Ayodhya as “Ram Janam Bhoomi”.

“We have organized ‘hawan’ rituals on the auspicious New Year of the Hindu calendar and resolved to make this country a Hindu Rashtra,” stated the national secretary of the Hindu Mahasabha, Pooja Shakun Pandey.
She said that she hoped that the government will accept their demand and declare India a Hindu nation.

Pandey also stated that Muslims had plundered Hindu religious heritage sites and had turned them to mosques by changing their names accordingly.

“They should now have to give these back to Hindus and we will restore their original names, as mentioned in the new calendar,” she added.

She said that all names mentioned in the calendar have been verified by historian BP Saxena, a retired professor from the history department of Varshney College, Aligarh. Saxena has claimed that facts can prove beyond doubt that these seven religious heritage sites belong to Hindus.

He said that if there is any controversy, excavations should be conducted, just like in the Ram temple case, and evidence will be there for all to see.

Muslim organizations and leaders have taken strong exception to the move which has, naturally, raised hackles among the minority community.

Imam-e-Eidgah, Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangi Mahli, who is also an executive committee member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), has dismissed these claims as baseless. “Dubbing the holy site of Mecca as a Hindu temple is meant to hurt the sentiments of Muslims and is against the spirit of secularism,” he averred.

“Some people like these are unnecessary spoiling the communal atmosphere by making such claims. Action should be taken against them for spreading hatred,” he said. The Maulana compared people like these to the likes of Pakistan’s Hafiz Muhammad Sayeed and these people who just want to harm the country.” He said that this was an attempt to create fissure between the two communities.

He alleged that this was being done on the direction of the government, as it believes in the policy of divide and rule.