Gyanvapi case: Decision should be on basis of evidence, says UP minister Asim Arun

Noida, Aug 6 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh Social Welfare Minister Asim Arun on Sunday said the Supreme Court’s directives in the Gyanvapi Mosque case are welcome and that a final decision should be made on the basis of evidence.

The Supreme Court on August 4 refused to stay an Allahabad High Court order that allowed an ASI survey of Varanasi’s Gyanvapi mosque, an exercise the Muslim side says will “reopen wounds of the past”.

The SC bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, however, asked the Archaeological Survey of India not to carry out any invasive act during the survey to find out if the 17the century mosque was built on a Hindu temple.

The survey has started at the controversial site in Varanasi.

“The ASI survey is a welcome move. I have been an investigator in the police and believe that if there is any controversial subject then there should be evidence collection and decisions should be made on the basis of the evidence,” Minister Arun told reporters here on Sunday.

“The decisions taken by the court in Varanasi and the Supreme Court are welcome. There is nothing controversial about it. When all evidence come to the table about it (Gyanvapi case), then a decision should be taken accordingly. I believe every law-abiding person of this country would welcome the developments,” he said.

The Minister of State (independent charge) for Social Welfare in the state government was in Noida for the inauguration of a new Abhyudaya Coaching Centre in sector 37 of the city, where he was joined by local MLA Pankaj Singh, Gautam Buddh Nagar MP Mahesh Sharma, former UP police chief Vikram Singh and district social welfare officer Shailendra Bahadur Singh.

The Abhyudaya scheme is an initiative of the Yogi Adityanath government to provide free of cost coaching to all candidates preparing for central and state-level competitive examinations like UPSC, UPPSC, NEET, JEE, SSC.

He said the state-run coaching centres are already showing good results with candidates getting into coveted government services and it is also helping in realisation of Dr. B R Ambedkar’s vision of providing ‘Avsar ki Samaanta’ (equality of opportunity) to students.

On the Monsoon Session of UP Vidhan Sabha starting Monday, Arun said the BJP is looking forward to have positive discussions and debates on subjects being raised in the house.

“Chief Minister Adityanath and Speaker Satish Mahana have made efforts in the previous sessions also to have positive debates and discussions in the house, they have been successful in their efforts and good laws have been made. I am hopeful this session will also be very productive,” he added.

The minister said there would be no new proposals from his department in the Monsoon Session as it is working on implementation of schemes on coaching, scholarships, old-age homes, pensions, for which a “good budget” has already been allotted.

He said the government is focusing on ensuring that people from backward communities including those from the OBC category are brought to the mainstream of development.

“For example, the Abhyudaya coaching is present not only in a city like Noida but has presence in districts like Balrampur, Sonbhadra, Lalitpur too. There should not be a situation where a student is forced to travel and live in big cities for education. Our effort is to provide them education opportunities right at their homes,” Arun added.