Hyderabad: The Archaeological Survey of India report of evidence that the Gyanvapi mosque was built where a temple had stood earlier, was dismissed by All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen president Asaduddin Owaisi, who said the report would not stand “academic scrutiny before any set of professional archaeologists of historians.”
Asaduddin, the MP from Hyderabad, reacting to reports about the ASI finding evidence of the existence of a Hindu temple said “the report is based on conjecture and makes a mockery of scientific study. As a great scholar once said, “ASI is the handmaiden of Hindutva.”
The ASI in its report on the Gyanvapi mosque had said the structure appears to have been destroyed in the 17th Century, during the reign of Aurangzeb, and part of it was modified and reused in the existing structure. “Based on scientific studies/survey carried out, study of architectural remains, exposed features and artefacts, art and sculptures, it can be said that there existed a Hindu temple prior to the construction of the existing structure.”
