ASI findings on Gyanvapi will be accepted by country, world: MP Min Prahlad Patel

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh Minister Prahlad Patel has said that the findings of ASI about Gyanvapi mosque will be accepted by the country and world, referring to the claim by the lawyer representing the Hindu litigants that the mosque was built after razing a temple.

The MP minister of panchayat rural development and labour told reporters in Jabalpur that the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which carried out a survey at the mosque on the Supreme Court's direction, is renowned not only in the country but across the world.

“If anyone does the work of looking at history through the prism of history, it is ASI. Hence, the country and the world will accept its facts. The ASI’s report presented before the court will enhance everyone’s knowledge,” he said on Friday.

Patel, who is a former Union Minister for tourism and culture, said that ASI’s retired officers go abroad for archaeological conservation and research work. ASI has an important contribution to the archaeology of the world, he stressed.

The Minister said that the ASI experts involved in the Ram Janmabhoomi case were eminent archaeologists.

Earlier, the lawyer of the Hindu petitioners in the Kashi Vishwanath-Gyanvapi case had claimed that the report of a scientific survey by ASI suggests the mosque was built on the remains of a pre-existing temple.

The lawyer, Vishnu Shankar Jain, made the claim after copies of the 839-page report were made available to the parties concerned by the court late Thursday evening.

Jain said the report makes it clear that the mosque, which stands adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath Mandir, was built on the remains of a grand Hindu temple after it was demolished in the 17th century during the reign of Aurangzeb.