September 18, 2022
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Uphold the Places of Worship Act, 1991

CPI(M)  Polit Bureau has issued the following statement on September 13

The decision of the district court in Varanasi in the Gyanvapi Mosque case is in clear violation of the aim behind the Places of Worship Act, 1991. The court has said that suits seeking the right to worship inside the mosque are maintainable and are not barred by the said law.

Wrong interpretations of the law by sections of the judiciary will lead to serious consequences of the kind that the law was meant to prevent. It is no secret that the ruling party is hell bent on a distorted interpretation of history to target minority communities. The claim that present day mosques were built on sites where temples were destroyed has been a longstanding method to whip up religious sentiments and to use this for a communal agenda.

The 1991 law is to uphold the paramount national interest of communal harmony and to prevent a plethora of motivated petitions such as those in Mathura and Varanasi. The CPI(M) reiterates its support for the strict implementation of the 1991 law based on the spirit behind and the intention of the  law.