Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat on Thursday said that while the organisation itself will not join any movement to “reclaim” the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi and the Shahi Idgah mosque in Mathura, its members were free to participate in their individual capacity, The Print reported.

Bhagwat was speaking at a lecture series marking the RSS’ centenary, during which he outlined the organisation’s views on India and its future. The RSS is the parent organisation of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

He was referring to the ongoing court cases in which Hindu litigants have sought to bar Muslims from praying at the Gyanvapi mosque at Varanasi, also known as Kashi, and the Shahi Idgah at Mathura.

The Hindu litigants have claimed that an oval-shaped object found on the Gyanvapi mosque premises in May 2022 is a shivling, a representation of the Hindu deity Shiva. However, the caretaker committee of the mosque has maintained that the object was a defunct fountainhead in the wazu khana, or ablution tank.

The plaintiffs in the Shahi Idgah case have claimed that the site is the birthplace of the Hindu deity Krishna.

On Thursday, Bhagwat said that the RSS would not lead such campaigns.

“The only movement which we joined was the Ram mandir which we supported fully and took it to the end,” The Indian Express quoted him as saying. “For other movements, the Sangh will not get involved.”

He added: “But in the Hindu heart, Kashi, Mathura and Ayodhya, all hold importance...The Hindu society will ask for them.”

The Babri Masjid was demolished by Hindutva extremists in December 1992 because they believed that it stood on the spot where the Hindu deity Ram was born. The incident had triggered communal riots across the country.

The Ram temple in Ayodhya is now being built at the site of the demolished mosque. The temple was inaugurated in a ceremony led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January 2024.

During the lecture on Thursday, Bhagwat also suggested that Muslims should willingly hand over the sites to the Hindu community, calling it “just a matter of three temples”.

He reiterated his position that Hindus should not look for a shivling in every mosque, but added: “If I can say, don’t look for a temple or shivling everywhere, they [the Muslim community] should also say that it is just a matter of three temples, take them.”

“It will be a big step for the spirit of brotherhood,” The Indian Express quoted him as saying.

In December, the Supreme Court barred trial courts from passing orders, including survey directions, in pending lawsuits concerning the religious character of places of worship.

It also said that no new suits can be registered in any court across the country until further orders while it hears a clutch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the 1991 Places of Worship Special Provisions Act.

The Act does not allow any changes to the religious character of a place of worship as it existed on August 15, 1947.

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