Decode Politics: Why Bhojshala row has returned to roil Madhya Pradesh politics again

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has ordered the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) to conduct a survey of the Bhojshala temple-cum-Kamal Maula mosque complex in Dhar district, observing that its nature and character need to be “demystified and freed from the shackles of confusion”.

Since the early 2000s various right wing groups in the state have beenseeking the closure of the mosque, a ban on Friday namaz in it and the installation of a Saraswati idol in the Bhojshala complex.

In April 2003, the ASI had made an arrangement to find a solution under which Hindus would perform puja in the premises on Tuesdays while Muslims would offer namaz there on Fridays.

On May 2, 2022, a PIL was filed by the Hindu Front for Justice challenging the ASI order which restricted daily worship at the Bhojshala for Hindus. The plea cited that the former rulers of Dhar had installed the statue of Saraswati there in 1034 AD and it was taken to London in 1857 by the British.

At the centre of Dhar city, over 250 kms away from Bhopal, is the tomb of Kamal al-Din, a Chishti saint and follower of Farid-al Din Ganj-i-Shakar and Nizam al-Din Auliya.

His tomb was built adjacent to a spacious hypostyle mosque “built primarily of reused temple parts”. This led to demands by the right wing groups that the complex is a temple dedicated to the Goddess Vagdevi (Saraswati). The Hindu Front for Justice argued that the mosque was constructed during the reign of Alauddin Khilji between the 13th and 14th centuries after “destroying and dismantling ancient structures of previously constructed Hindu temples”.

According to a 2012 research paper by Micheal Willis published in the Royal Asiatic Society, the Bhojshala or ‘Hall of Bhoja’ is a term used to describe the centre