NEW DELHI: In the latest attack on the Muslim community by the Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), authorities in the BJP-controlled Maharashtra state have shut down an 800-year-old mosque for Muslim worshippers following a complaint by an RSS-linked Hindu group, it emerged on Sunday.
The district collector in BJP-ruled Maharashtra’s Jalgaon passed an interim restraining order while hearing a complaint filed by a right-wing organisation, according to Indian news outlet The Wire.
In the order, the collector also directed police deployment in the area. He asked the tehsildar to take charge of the mosque, which he described as “disputed”.
The 800-year-old structure is an important place of worship in northern Maharashtra and a property registered under the Waqf Board.
While the collector’s order and his power to pass it have been challenged before the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court, Aslam (one name), a member of the Jumma Masjid Trust, fears that the unprecedented order marks the beginning of the communalisation of a centuries-old mosque in the state, said The Wire.
“Pandavwada Sangharsh Samiti”, an unregistered organisation, had filed the application against the mosque, pushing the centuries-old mosque into controversy.
The complainant, Prasad Madhusudan Dandawate, had filed the complaint before the collector, Aman Mittal, in May.
According to his Facebook profile, the complainant is a member of the extremist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), and Bajrang Dal.
Mr Dandawate, who is reportedly a member of the RSS and Bajrang Dal, claimed the mosque was built over a Hindu place of worship and should be taken over by the state authorities. The complainant also claims that the Jumma Masjid Trust has “illegally” encroached over the space.
A law passed after the 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya prohibits damaging or reclaiming old monuments.
