Mathura (UP): Less than a week ahead of hearing in a Mathura district court on a petition to seek the removal of a 17th-century mosque adjoining the birthplace of Lord Krishna, an all-India body of priests and a social organisation have filed pleas to become parties to the case.
In their applications filed in the court of District and Sessions Judge on Wednesday, the Akhil Bharatiya Tirth Purohit Mahasabha and Mathur Chaturvedi Parishad condemned the petition that sought the removal of the Shahi Idgah mosque built within the Katra Keshav Dev temple, arguing that the issue can create "communal disturbance in the town".
Mahasabha President Mahesh Pathak told reporters: "We do not want anyone to disrupt peace in the city. The issue is being raised unnecessarily after the Ram Janmabhoomi issue. Members of all religious communities have been happily living together in the town."
He said that the people want development and employment generation more than another temple-mosque dispute.
The fresh pleas argued that the sensitivity of the matter needs to be understood since it could spoil the "communal harmony of Mathura town".
"We want the status quo to remain. Additional land can be acquired for the expansion of the temple premises," Pathak said.
The priests' body also stated that the claim of ownership of the land in the previous petition was not in accordance with the Places of Worship Act, 1991, which provides for maintaining the "religious character" of holy structures as they existed on August 15, 1947.