No endeavour has been made to build the mosque, says a letter to the CM; opposition parties and civil rights groups criticise the move
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI – A senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has called on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to reclaim the land in Ayodhya which has been allocated for the construction of a mosque.
In a letter to the chief minister, BJP leader Rajneesh Singh asked him to reclaim the land allotted for the construction of a mosque in Ayodhya claiming that no substantial endeavour has been undertaken to build it.
The land in question was allotted as part of a Supreme Court directive issued in 2019, settling the Babri Majid-Ram Janambhoomi issue dating back over a century. A five-judge bench headed by the then Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi paved the way for the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya on the ruins of the 16th century Babri Masjid which was dastardly destroyed by Hindus in 1992. The apex court also ruled that an alternative five-acre plot would be found for a mosque in Ayodhya.
The Sunni Central Waqf Board later formed the Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation to build a new mosque on the land allotted by the state government in the Dhannipur area of the district.
Tha BJP leader in his letter to the chief minister on December 10, said that since the apex court’s verdict, “no substantial endeavour has been undertaken by the Muslim community to construct the mosque”.
Their “intention was never to establish a mosque there but to perpetuate the discord under the pretext of a mosque,” he said, according to a Press Trust of India (PTI) report.
Rajneesh also asserted in his letter that “a mosque is not necessary for offering prayers anyway.” He appealed to the chief minister to “issue strict instructions to the officials of the Ayodhya mosque trust to use the land in compliance with the Supreme Court orders”.
“In case of being unable to do so, issue directives to return the land to the government to prevent its misuse,” Singh said.
The BJP leader has argued that the allocation of land to the mosque contradicts the ethos of Ayodhya as a religious and cultural centre for Hindus.
Opposition parties and civil rights groups have criticised the suggestion, calling it a challenge to the Supreme Court’s verdict and a potential spark for communal unrest.
Prominent leaders from the opposition have accused the BJP of attempting to polarise the electorate in light of the upcoming elections. “Such demands are not only unconstitutional but also threaten the delicate communal harmony which was restored after years of conflict,” remarked a senior leader of the Samajwadi Party.
As of now, there has been no official response from the chief minister’s office or the Uttar Pradesh government.
The demand to reclaim the Ayodhya land allocated to the mosque underscores the persistent undercurrents of religious and political disputes in the country. It raises questions about the implementation of judicial decisions and the balance between majority sentiments and minority rights.