Modi govt under fire over demolition of 115 year-old Saharanpur Mosque

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday came under heavy fire across political, media, and social circles following the dawn demolition of a 115-year-old mosque inside the Saharanpur Collectorate campus.

The mosque — which caretakers and legal documents confirm was built in 1911 — was razed using heavy machinery under cover of darkness in the early hours of Saturday.

The action was carried out under intense security, including five companies of armed constabulary and anti-riot police forces, while key opposition representatives were placed under house arrest to prevent them from reaching the site or voicing public concerns.

The hasty destruction came just three days after a local district court dismissed an appeal, denying the mosque committee reasonable time to approach the high court.

Read: Pakistan condemns demolition of century-old mosque in India’s Saharanpur

Opposition figures, social activists, and prominent religious organisations collectively condemned the action, pointing out that the mosque predated the current Collectorate building, was registered with the Waqf Board (Registration No 451), and sat on land historically recorded under private ownership.

Political leaders across various parties unanimously denounced the demolition, characterising it as a deliberate misuse of power aimed at communalising Uttar Pradesh ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections.

Parliamentarian and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) President Asaduddin Owaisi questioned whether constitutional guarantees of religious freedom still existed for Muslims.

He stressed that continuous public worship for over a century met the exact legal definition of “Waqf by User” and noted that decades of open possession protected the property under law.

Imran Masood, a Congress MP from Saharanpur, termed the action a blatant violation of the Constitution. He highlighted that revenue records explicitly showed that the land originally belonged to Yaqub Khan and Waheed Khan, within whose estate the mosque was constructed. He added that the administration acted arbitrarily without even making the Waqf Board a party to the proceedings.

Iqra Hasan, Samajwadi Party MP from Kairana, condemned her forced house arrest by the administration before the operation, calling the demolition a “mockery of law and order” and an attempt to deliver state-sponsored “quick justice” through bulldozers.

Sanjay Singh, Aam Aadmi Party MP and Mahua Moitra, Trinamool Congress MP, reaffirmed that the mosque predated the government administration offices and accused the BJP regime of intentionally stoking communal hatred for political gains.

Maulana Arshad Madani, president of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind and Principal of Darul Uloom Deoband, issued a strong rebuke, stating that bulldozers had become instruments of prejudice and politics of revenge.

Madani stressed that the demolition violates the Places of Worship Act, 1991, as well as provisions protecting historical Waqf sites.

He noted that the mosque committee had submitted historical documents from 1911, municipal records dating back to 1957, and proof of a central government lease executed for a sub-post office operating within the building since 1960 — all of which were ignored by the authorities.

Social activists and observers pointed out a clear double standard in how selective enforcement was deployed and how minority places of worship with proven historical records were disproportionately targeted for demolition.