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The Hindu’s Malini Parthasarathy bemoans reopening of “long-buried” Kashi Vishwanath dispute, Shefali Vaidya responds

April 12, 2021
The Commune

Malini Parthasarathy, chairperson of The Hindu Publishing Group, on Friday tweeted that it was “disappointing” that the judiciary was endorsing the “reopening of a long-buried medieval dispute” in the Kashi Vishwanath−Gyanvapi Mosque case. Quoting from an editorial from The Hindu, she tweeted, “ASI survey in Gyanvapi mosque should not be allowed to resurrect disputes buried by law.”

Parthasarathy was referring to a ruling by a Varanasi court ordering the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to undertake a comprehensive physical survey of the disputed site at Gyanvapi, Varanasi and the constitution of a five-member Committee to report on the survey work done to the court’s observer.

Responding to her tweet, author and Tweeleb Shefali Vaidya said, “Who buried it? No self-respecting Hindu has EVER forgotten the way Kashi Vishwanath Mandir was destroyed. Not talking about dhimmies who have sold their soul like @MaliniP though!”

Responding to Shefali’s tweet, Malini Parthasarathy said that ‘Hindutva is rearing its ugly head’ and that it ‘defeated Narendra Modi’s vision of technocratically driven governance’.

However, Shefali said that calling her a ‘dhimmi’ wasn’t an abuse and that it was a fact.

The public spat between the two went on to take an ugly turn with Malini calling Shefali a ‘loser’. Shefali hit back saying that unlike Malini, she was self-made, her achievements were her own and not by virtue of someone’s grand daughter, and went on call Malini a ‘mediocre dynast’.

After this tweet, Malini had stopped engaging with Shefali and had her colleagues come to her rescue in comments. Suhasini Haider, daughter of Rajya Sabha MP Subramaniam Swamy and Diplomatic Affairs Editor of The Hindu replied to Malini’s tweet saying that they were proud to be associated with The Hindu.

Shefali Vaidya took a jibe at this saying that publishing group’s chairperson had called her ‘coterie of friends to express solidarity with her’.

The ASI Committee’s prime purpose is to find out whether the religious structure standing at the disputed site is a superimposition, alteration or addition or if there is structural overlapping of any kind over any other religious structure. If there is any such structure, the Committee is to examine the age, size, monumental and architectural design, style of the religious structure standing at the disputed site, what Hindu deity or deities the same was devoted to and what materials were used to build the same. The Committee is to trace if any temple belonging to the Hindu community ever existed before the mosque was built or superimposed or added at the disputed site. After the survey is complete, the Committee’s report is to be submitted in a sealed cover without undue delay, the court had ruled.

Interestingly, the court also ordered that the general public or the media will not be allowed access to witness the survey work. The Committee was also barred from holding any media briefings on the survey work.

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