Mathura's mosque and temple story follows a different script to Ayodhya's

In Mathura, a court dismissed a civil suit seeking the removal of a Mughal-era mosque that shares a wall with a temple complex believed to be situated in the birthplace of Krishna

“Ayodhya toh bas jhanki hai, Kashi Mathura baaki hai (Ayodhya is but a glimpse, Kashi and Mathura remain).”

A court case in Mathura harked back to this battle cry from the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, just as the Babri Masjid case reached a hollow denouement at the end of last month.

In the case pertaining to Ayodhya, a court exonerated the architects of a campaign that culminated in the Babri Masjid being demolited in December 1992 and foreshadowed the rise of Hindutva and India’s turn towards majoritarian politics.

In Mathura, however, a court dismissed a civil suit seeking the removal of a Mughal-era mosque