Is the current time one of iconoclasm? Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the President of Turkey inaugurated the occasion of converting the Hagia Sofia Museum of Istanbul into a mosque on Friday, 24 July. The building began life several centuries ago as a Greek pagan cathedral.
There are some 3000 temples across the country which were in the centuries past converted into mosques. Not all of them may remain dead issues; no government has taken the trouble to solve them and they have been left to be settled judicially. In course of time, such issues turn into political controversies. The self-styled secular parties would be reluctant to offend their Muslim constituents, whereas others would need to assuage their Hindu followers.
