Subramanian Swamy says mosque not a religious place, BJP maintains distance

“We will have a talk with him on the matter. These comments, which I have not seen, must be made by him in his personal capacity. This is not the party’s stand,” Javadekar said.

BJP leader and Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on Sunday sought to distance himself from his party colleague Subramanian Swamy’s controversial comment that “a mosque is not a religious place”, holding it was a comment made by him in his “personal capacity” and nothing to do with the party.

“We will have a talk with him on the matter. These comments, which I have not seen, must be made by him in his personal capacity. This is not the party’s stand,” Javadekar said.

When asked if there is a possibility of the party expelling him given his penchant for making controversial remarks Javadekar said, “I cannot comment on that for now”.

While speaking in Guwahati on Friday, Swamy had reportedly said, “A mosque is not a religious place. It is just a building and it can be demolished any time. If anyone disagrees with me on this, I am ready to have a debate on the issue. I got this information from people of Saudi Arabia”.

Muslim Personal Law Board also criticised BJP Swamy for his statement, saying it was intended to divert people’s attention from “failures” of the Centre.

“We don’t agree with the statement. Like in other religions, a mosque is a religious place. In our country there was Islamic rule for 800 years but none of the rulers demolished any mosque,” All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) general secretary Maulana Nizamuddin said.

“Had it not been a religious place, there would have been examples of its demolition in the pages history,” he said.

Source:: Indian Express