Former ASI regional director KK Muhammed urged both communities to show restraint in ongoing mandir–masjid disputes, asserting that only three sites — Ram Janmabhoomi, Mathura and Gyanvapi — should remain the focus of the nationwide debate. He argued that these locations hold exceptional religious significance for Hindus, comparing their importance to the way Mecca and Medina are revered in Islam. Muhammed said that if Muslims voluntarily transferred these three sites to Hindus, and if Hindus stopped raising new demands beyond them, it would reduce tensions rather than deepen them. In his view, expanding the list of disputed religious places would only intensify conflict rather than resolve it.
Reflecting on the Ayodhya dispute, Muhammed discussed his participation in the 1976 excavation of the Babri Masjid led by BB Lal. He said the controversy escalated not because of the archaeological evidence but due to the influence of a well-known communist historian who, according to him, encouraged the Muslim community to reject the findings that suggested a temple existed beneath the mosque. Muhammed maintained that most Muslims were initially open to resolving the Ram Janmabhoomi matter peacefully, but public opinion shifted after that historical narrative took root. He criticised the historian sharply, claiming they had no firsthand experience with the excavation and yet spread misleading claims that shaped decades of social and political discord.
Muhammed reiterated that only three locations should be considered for settlement and insisted that further litigation or campaigns targeting additional sites would be counterproductive. He cautioned that endless demands would create a prolonged cycle of confrontation rather than unity. At the same time, he acknowledged that there was little internal control within the Hindu community to prevent the rise of new claims. Muhammed also pushed back strongly against fringe assertions that the Taj Mahal was originally a Hindu temple, calling such theories baseless. He explained that the historical record clearly shows the site was once a palace owned by Raja Mann Singh, later transferred to Jai Singh, and ultimately handed to Shah Jahan — with documentary evidence still stored in the archives of Jaipur and Bikaner.
Commenting on present-day heritage management, Muhammed criticised the condition of the ASI under the current government, calling the past eleven years a “dark age” for India’s archaeological preservation. He said that conservation work had slowed across multiple sites, including the Bateshwar temple complex in Chambal, where his restoration efforts have resulted in the reconstruction of only ten temples in more than a decade.
