Saurabh Sharma, Alasdair pal

MATHURA (India) – A few remaining Muslim restaurants are either closed or empty in Mathura, India, where a mosque and a temple stand side by side.

Last year, the Uttar Pradesh government’s chief minister banned meat. The order came from a Hindu monk and decimated the trade.

Yogi Adityanath is now saffron-clad and up for reelection. He has indicated that he will support the Hindu cause during a long-running conflict with Muslims about who the temple belonged to.

It has been a major part of the party’s efforts to expand its control in Uttar Pradesh. This state is home to more than 200 million people, and it plays a crucial role in national politics.

Hindus have struggled for centuries to decide who will control this site. It is a similar dispute that has occasionally flared in deadly riots among the Indian communities.

Although communal violence is rare in India, there were clashes in the country over a citizenship law in 2020 that Muslims claimed was discriminatory. Dozens of victims were killed.

Interviews with over 20 people reveal that the Mathura dispute is being mentioned at rallies or on social media, causing concern among the city’s Muslims.

Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay (author of many books about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist movement) said that “an old case has been resolved… and is being revived.”

It is important to play the temple cards more often.

Opinion polls show that Adityanath’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party BJP (which Adityanath belonged to) will win the election in Uttar Pradesh. This is despite wide discontent with the economy, and how the government has handled the pandemic.

Some analysts view Modi as the potential successor. The chief minister cast the ballot with “80%” and not 20%, figures that he didn’t explain fully. These percentages are close to the Hindu- and Muslim shares of the entire state’s population.

Adityanath’s office didn’t respond to my request for comment about the Mathura situation.

There is nothing to fear

Uttar Pradesh saw the BJP win on a Hindu first platform in 2017. They did not have a single Muslim candidate. Indians elect powerful state legislatures independently from the nationwide parliamentary elections.

This victory was a reflection of Modi’s national dominance, as he stormed into power after appealing to the Hindu majority in 2014.

Opposition Congress claims that Modi’s and the BJP’s preference for Hindus is discriminatory and could lead to violence. Modi has maintained his records and said that all Indians benefit from his economic and socio-economic policies.

Jamal Siddiqui (head of the BJP’s minority commission) stated that his party is working hard to boost the numbers of minorities candidates in Uttar Pradesh, and other states, which will be going to polls next month.

He told Reuters that he hoped the minorities would participate in both elections and government. Modi has always protected religious sites of all faiths. Muslims now feel less fearful of saffron than they used to be.

Siddiqui said that the misleading claims of opposition parties had led to suspicions about the BJP’s Mathura presence among Muslims.

‘NO COMPROMISE’

Mathura is one of the most sacred cities of Hinduism. It’s located about 150 kilometers south of New Delhi and believed to have been the birthplace for Krishna, one the most important Hindu gods.

On the supposed site of his birth, a temple was demolished and replaced with a mosque known as Shahi Eidgah in the 17th Century during the Islamic Mughal Empire. A complex of Hindu temples, built in the 1950s, now supports the mosque.

In 1968, an agreement was reached to resolve the property’s use. The two structures stood as “two sisters” up until 2020 when legal proceedings were initiated to destroy the mosque. Z. Hassan is the president of the Eidgah trust.

“I have lived here 55 years. He said that he has not experienced tension between Muslims and Hindus. “It has only been in the past few decades that this idea was born, that there were two communities.”

A group of Hindu priests brought the case to court, claiming that the 1968 agreement was fraud.

Vishnu Jain was the attorney representing petitioners. I don’t believe that dialogue is possible. There is only one compromise which can happen – that they will be out of this property.”

Both parties expect that the case will last years.

Adityanath along with several other BJP leaders have been involved in the resolution of the local dispute.

A rally was held last month in which he stated that the construction of Mathura’s Temple, following the same lines as a similar one in Ayodhya is “in progress”. He did not give more details.

Ayodhya saw communal violence from 1992 to 1993. More than 2,000 people perished after a mob destroyed the Babri Masjid mosque (16th century) which many Hindus said was located on the birthplace for Lord Rama, another important Hindu deity.

In 2019, the BJP’s majority was boosted by a crucial campaign issue, which was a court decision allowing for the construction of a temple near the Babri Masjid.

“THE LAKE IS OURS”

Mathura has many Hindu residents who are supportive of plans to seize the land from its mosque.

Bipin Goswami (19 years old) said, “The land belongs to us and should be returned.” He was adorned with sandalwood paste on his face.

After fringe Hindu groups tried to put a statue of Krishna in the mosque, local authorities deployed thousands of security officers.

Although the attempt was unsuccessful, the police check all IDs at the complex, which is surrounded with barsbed wire and towers of observation since the 1990s.

Aved Khan is a Muslim, aged 30, who runs a Mathura-based food truck. He said that after several men asked him to give up his Hindu name, the new name was American Dosa Corner.

“You’re Muslim. How can you get this name?” According to August’s police report, one of them asked after tearing down signs at the stall.

Rajesh Mani Tripathi (national president of Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Mukti Dal – a Hindu hardline group which was behind the attempted installation of the statue) told Reuters he was involved in the altercation.

“If he is Muslim, then he should write the name of his religion on the banner. He should also not mention a Hindu name to cheat people,” he stated.

Mathura Muslims complained that Adityanath had decided in September to stop meat being consumed within three kilometers of the temple.

One of the last remaining restaurants in the neighborhood, the Royal Restaurant remains open. Here, you can find traditional lamb kebabs, and chicken tikka, made of soya.

Sajid anwar stood before the shuttered Labbaik Restaurant and said: “Before BJP, there was no tension.”

Anwar claimed that vegetarian food was not in demand among Muslims. He waits for the results of the election before deciding whether to permanently close.

“If Yogi is back, I will need to find another trade.”