Gyanvapi mosque row: UP CM Yogi Adityanath says Muslim side must accept historic mistake

Amid the ongoing controversy over the Gyanvapi mosque-Kashi Vishwanath temple complex, Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath said the Muslim side must accept the "historic mistake".

The chief minister said it is controversial to call it Gyanvapi a mosque. "What is a trident (trishul) doing inside a masjid, we didn't keep it. There are jyotirling (shivling) and idols. I think there should be an acceptance from the Muslim side that there has been a historic mistake for which we want a solution," Adityanath said in an ANI podcast, which is yet to be aired at 5 pm on Monday.

Snippets from the interview shared by the news agency on Twitter show the Uttar Pradesh chief minister speaking on a host of issues and controversies around the singing of Vande Mataram in the country and the West Bengal Panchayat poll violence.

Last week, the Allahabad High Court had reserved till August 3 its verdict on a plea against a Varanasi district court order directing the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to conduct a survey to determine if the Gyanvapi mosque was built upon a temple.

While hearing the plea filed by Anjuman Intezamia Masjid, which manages the mosque, the court of Chief Justice Pritinker Diwaker also ordered that the stay on the ASI survey till August 3.

The mosque committee had moved the high court on July 25, a day after the Supreme Court halted the ASI survey on July 24, allowing time for the committee to appeal against the lower court's order.