Tirupati, Rishikesh, Ayodhya, Mathura and Varanasi are ... towns and cities which are as Hindu as Mecca is Muslim or the Vatican is Church.

A temple or a mosque in the Vatican or a church in Mecca would militate against the sheer aesthetic harmony of these places. Should it then be difficult to realise that mosques in the heart of the most prominent temples in Varanasi, Ayodhya and Mathura would be aesthetically revolving for any Hindu? ..

Have you ever visited the mosques in Varanasi, Ayodhya and Mathura? I did and I did not like what I saw. Any Hindu would be hurt.

That such things happen in history is true. The history of civilisation is also the history of their eclipse by decay or conquest .. , That irrational act apart, the fact of the matter is that the mosque in Varanasi and Mathura are, aesthetically, as incongruous as t he one in Nazareth will be, if it ever is built .. (Source: The Indian Express, 3 December, 1999)