Yogi cites Hindu epic 'Mahabharata' to rake up Kashi, Mathura mosque-temple disputes

According to Hindu mythology, the 'Pandavas', in a bid to prevent a war, requested the 'Kauravas' to give them only five villages but the latter refused. The refusal ultimately resulted in a war between the Pandavas and Kauravas in which the former emerged victorious.

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday referred to the Hindu epic Mahabharata to rake up the contentious issues of the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi and the Shahi Idgah mosque in Mathura, along with the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

"The Pandavas (five brothers in Mahabharata) had only sought five villages from the Kauravas (Pandav's rival) but they did not get them ... in our country the majority community wanted only three places (Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura) but for that too they were made to beg," Adityanath said amid discussions during the motion of thanks on the Governor's speech in the state Assembly.

According to Hindu mythology, the 'Pandavas', in a bid to prevent a war, requested the 'Kauravas' to give them only five villages but the latter told them that they would not be given even an inch of land. The refusal ultimately resulted in a war between the Pandavas and Kauravas in which the former emerged victorious.

"A grand Ram temple has been constructed in Ayodhya but how can we forget Kashi and Mathura ... these issues (Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura) should have been resolved after Independence but they were not resolved owing to vote bank politics," the chief minister said.

He said that the recently held consecration ceremony at the Ram temple had restored the ancient glory of Ayodhya and accused the earlier governments of rival parties of ignoring the city during their rule. "Who prevented them from developing Ayodhya while the Ram Janmabhoomi case was pending in the court?" he said.

"We had promised a Ram Temple at the Ram Janmabhoomi and we fulfilled the promise," Adityanath said, adding that Ayodhya would emerge as the cultural capital of the world.

Meanwhile, in his speech, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav sought to corner the state government on the issue of inflation and also alleged that a huge land scam had taken place in Ayodhya under the 'patronage' of the government.

"UP has witnessed record corruption in the present regime ... large-scale irregularities have taken place in the purchase of lands in Ayodhya under the patronage of the government," the SP leader alleged.

He also said that the BJP government was 'anti-farmer' and accused it of not giving adequate compensation to the farmers whose lands were acquired for the purpose of setting up airports and other industries.