‘Farzi’ organization: Why have Hindu petitioners in the Gyanvapi case split?

*Paromita Das

The four Varanasi petitioners have split from the lone Delhi petitioner.
The Hindu petitioners in the case have split days after their petition resulted in the sealing of a portion of the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi.

The case involves five female petitioners. Laxmi Devi, Sita Sahu, Manju Vyas, and Rekha Pathak are all Varanasi residents. Rakhi Singh, the fifth, is from Delhi. Until now, they had all been represented by lawyer Shivam Gaur. On May 20, petitioners in Varanasi received notice that Gaur would only represent Singh.
“I have withdrawn my vakalatnama [memo of appearance] for the other four women due to a communication breakdown,” Gaur explained. “The women are not addressing me directly. As a result, I will now continue to represent only Rakhi Singh.”

The remaining four will be represented by advocate Sudhir Tripathi, who claims the split has no bearing on the case. “The four women will fight the case to the bitter end,” he said.

Varanasi vs. Delhi

Acrimony between the Hindutva organizations behind the case may have fueled the split among the petitioners.

Sohan Lal Arya, Laxmi Devi’s husband, is a senior leader of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad in Varanasi. Arya claimed he “selected” four women in Varanasi to be petitioners in the case.

Rakhi Singh is a Vishwa Vedic Sanatan Sangh member. Jitendra Bisen, president of the Vedic Sangh, had contacted the petitioners in Varanasi to add her name to the case.

Arya now refers to the Vedic Sangh as a “farzi,” or bogus, organization. “Suppose I form a Vishwa Pathar Sangh [World Stone Organization], and all stone-hearted people join me,” he joked. “Alternatively, the Vishwa Khali Botal Samaj. This is what they call oot patang.”

Arya also suggested that the Vedic Sangh was looking for attention and was attempting to take credit for the petition. “When a case is highlighted, people frequently develop differences,” he shrugged.

Bisen, for one, stated that his organization was not a hoax. “Anyone who wants to see what the organisation does can see for themselves,” he explained.

A poll, a seal, and a new plea

On April 18, 2021, the five women petitioned the Varanasi trial court for permission to offer daily prayers and perform Hindu rituals at the Gyanvapi mosque’s western wall. They claimed there were images of Shringar Gauri, the deity, on the wall.
The Varanasi court appointed survey commissioners and authorised a videographic survey of the mosque last month. The discovery of a “shivling” on the mosque grounds by the committee went viral on May 16. Lawyers for the Hindu petitioners began speaking to the media and petitioned the court to seal a portion of the mosque.

According to the mosque management committee, the shivling is a fountain for wuzu, the ritual of washing oneself before offering namaaz. However, on May 16, a Varanasi court ordered the wuzu khana, or ablution tank, to be sealed. This was even before the survey committee’s report, which stated that an oval object had been discovered in the tank but made no definitive claims that it was a shivling.
On May 17, the four Varanasi petitioners filed a new petition in the local court, requesting that the survey area be expanded and the premises excavated in order to find the base of the “shivling” and possibly statues of other gods.

On the same day, the Supreme Court ruled that the wuzu khana could remain closed, but Muslims should be allowed to pray at the mosque. On May 20, the Supreme Court transferred the case from the trial court in Varanasi to the district court. It also directed the district court to rule first on whether the Hindu side’s petition was even maintainable in the first place.