Standing inside the Bhojshala complex, beneath carved stone pillars draped with marigold garlands, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Monday performed rituals dedicated to Goddess Vagdevi and declared that Dhar was “entering a new world” after the High Court verdict recognising the disputed monument as a Hindu temple.For the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh, the symbolism of the visit was important. Yadav became the first sitting Chief Minister to worship at the site after the court ruling on the Bhojshala-Kamal Maula complex dispute on May 15 said its religious character was that of a temple dedicated to Goddess Saraswati.AdvertisementThe visit came days after Hindu organisations held a Friday “maha aarti” at the complex under heavy security deployment, and Muslim groups staged symbolic protests by offering namaz inside homes while wearing black bands.The Chief Minister on Monday offered prayers and performed the aarti at the Bhojshala temple. Addressing a gathering, he said the day coincided with the auspicious occasion of Ganga Dussehra, and described Dhar as the city of Raja Bhoj. “I congratulate the people of Dhar for this judgment. Behind this verdict lies your 750-year-old struggle. The court has separated truth from falsehood,” Yadav said.Yadav said Raja Bhoj, Emperor Vikramaditya and Harshavardhana were among the great figures of Malwa who helped establish the identity of Sanatan culture before the world. He described Raja Bhoj as a scholar-king who “authored several books and commissioned structures of immense historical importance”.Advertisement“If anyone built the world’s largest Shivling, it was Raja Bhoj,” he said.As priests chanted Vedic mantras inside the ASI-protected monument, Yadav announced that the state government would establish a “Maa Saraswati Lok” and a Raja Bhoj Research Institute in Dhar, positioning the town not merely as a religious centre but as a cultural and civilisational project tied to Hindu heritage politics.Within the BJP and the Sangh Parivar ecosystem, Bhojshala has for years remained one of the unresolved religious disputes frequently invoked alongside Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura.For the BJP government, the site offers a powerful regional counterpart to Ayodhya-era politics, one rooted in Madhya Pradesh’s own historical memory, centred around Raja Bhoj and framed as a restoration of Hindu pride after “750 years”.With the Ram Temple already completed in Ayodhya and legal-political campaigns continuing around the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi and the Shahi Idgah dispute in Mathura, the court victory in the Bhojshala dispute comes as an important milestone for the BJP in Madhya Pradesh.“It’s going to be among the list of civilisational achievements for the Chief Minister… This is a victory for everyone to see. This can easily feature in election narratives when Yadav stands for reelection,” said a senior BJP leader.What’s next?For years, organisations linked to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Hindu Front for Justice, Bhoj Utsav Samiti and local Hindu groups have tried to keep Bhojshala politically alive through protests, yatras, legal petitions and symbolic acts of worship. The High Court verdict has now created a race among multiple right-wing actors to claim ownership of the movement and its political dividends.That competition was visible during Monday’s ceremonies.While the state government projected the event as a moment of “historical justice”, Hindu litigants and activists present at the site pushed for further steps, including unrestricted Hindu access to the complex, removal of Islamic symbols and the opening of locked sections inside the monument, believed by petitioners to be part of the original temple structure.The demands suggest that, despite the High Court ruling, the movement around Bhojshala is unlikely to stop at a symbolic victory.Chief Minister Yadav also attempted to fuse religious symbolism with development politics. During the event, he performed bhoomi pujan and inaugurations for projects worth over Rs 88 crore, linking the Bhojshala verdict with promises of tourism growth, industrial expansion and employment generation.He said Dhar would emerge as a tourism, literary and cultural hub and pointed to the PM MITRA textile park and industrial activity in the district as evidence that “heritage and development” could move together.The government also announced financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh each for the families of three men described as having sacrificed their lives during the Bhojshala movement. The families were honoured publicly during the programme, further embedding the dispute within a language of religious struggle and martyrdom.The Muslim side has already approached the Supreme Court, challenging the High Court verdict, arguing that the judgment alters long-standing worship arrangements at a protected monument where namaz had been offered for decades under ASI regulations.Last Friday, Muslim groups avoided confrontation but staged symbolic protests by shutting shops, offering prayers at home and posting images online with black bands tied around their arms.