Hindu Mahasabha threatens to install Krishna idol in Mathura mosque, says it’s deity’s birthplace

The Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha has announced that it will install an idol of Lord Krishna at the deity’s ‘actual birthplace’, which it claims is in the mosque close to a prominent temple here.

Hindu Mahasabha leader Rajyashri Choudhary said the idol will be installed after a ‘maha jalabhishek’ on December 6 to “purify” the place.

The date picked by the right-wing organisation marks the demolition in 1992 of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, the site of a temple-mosque dispute.

The Mahasabha threat to perform the ritual inside the Shahi Idgah comes at a time when the local courts are hearing a series of petitions seeking the “removal” of the 17th century mosque, close to the Katra Keshav Dev temple.

Hindu Mahasabha leader Rajyashri Choudhary, however, denied there was any link between the 1992 event and organisation’s Mathura plan.

Water from the holy rivers will be brought for the “maha jalabhishek”, she said.

“We so far have got political freedom, but spiritual, economic and cultural freedom is yet to be achieved,” Choudhary said.

This article first appeared in The Indian Express.