Places of Worship Act must be implemented in letter and spirit: Congress

New Delhi: The Congress on Monday asserted that the Places of Worship Act, 1991, must be implemented in letter and spirit, and said that oral observations made by ex-CJI D Y Chandrachud in May 2022 seem to have opened a “Pandora’s box”.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the various rows that have cropped up recently such as the claims on a mosque in Sambhal and Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti’s dargah in Ajmer are “unfortunate”.

“The Congress party in its CWC meeting on Friday has reiterated its firmest commitment to the Places of Worship Act, 1991, and that is our position. We are going to raise it but Parliament is to function for that, and most importantly, Parliament must be allowed to function,” Ramesh told PTI Videos.

“The responsibility of the government is to get Parliament functioning. It is the primary responsibility of the government. The opposition must have its say but the government will have its way. But here the government has lost its way and does not want Parliament to function,” he said.

Asked about the row over claims on a mosque in Sambhal and Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti’s shrine in Ajmer, Ramesh said, “This is unfortunate. The oral observations made by the former CJI (D Y Chandrachud) on May 20, 2022, seem to have opened a Pandora’s box and the Places of Worship Act, 1991, passed by both Houses of Parliament and gazetted in September 1991, must be implemented in letter and spirit.”

On Friday, the opposition party reiterated its commitment to the Places of Worship Act in a resolution passed by the Congress Working Committee during its over four-hour-long meeting at the AICC headquarters here.

“After reiterating its firmest commitment to the letter and spirit of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which is being violated brazenly by the BJP, the CWC discussed the challenges faced by the Indian National Congress following the results of the four Vidhan Sabha elections,” the CWC resolution read.

The resolution came days after a violent protest against a court-ordered survey of the Mughal-era Shahi Jama Masjid in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal claimed four lives.

In Ajmer, home to Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti’s dargah which is visited by thousands cutting across religious divides every day, a local court has issued notices to the dargah committee, the Ministry of Minority Affairs and the Archaeological Survey of India on a plea seeking to declare the shrine a temple.

The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act prohibits change of character of religious places as they existed as on August 15, 1947.

On May 20, 2022, the top court made oral observations while hearing a dispute involving the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi and said ascertaining the religious character of a place of worship was not barred under the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act.