Bengaluru: In a controversial speech, Pramod Muthalik, the chief of the controversial Hindu outfit Sri Ram Sene, has demanded that the Jamia Masjid in Karnataka’s Gadag “should be demolished,” and a Venkateshwara temple, which, according to him existed there, should be rebuilt in place of the mosque.
Quoting his speech made in Gadag on the occasion of Vijayadashami, online news portal TNM said Muthalik claimed: “We had to fight for 72 years for Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. After 72 long years, Babri Masjid has been removed and Ram Mandir will be built there. In the same manner, in Gadag, the Jamma Masjid that's there, it's a Venkateshwara Temple and I'm telling it with full confidence that it should be razed.”
Muthalik said that “There's proof that Babri Masjid was built on a temple, similarly, during Tipu Sultan's rule, Venkateshwara Temple was demolished and Jamma Masjid was built. We have proof.”
Muthalik was presiding over an event held by the Sri Ram Sene to “sensitize” people on alleged religious conversions.
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