Sunehri Bagh masjid a heritage structure or a roadblock? NDMC seeks public opinion

In a notice issued Sunday, NDMC invited citizens’ objections and suggestions in the matter by January 1. Officials said the mosque, which is located on a roundabout, is leading to traffic snarls in the area.

“So far, over 300 suggestions have been received on the email, ID chief.architecht@ndmc.gov.in. Most of the emails received have opposed the demolition. Many emails have been received from Muslim organisations and minority welfare bodies,” NDMC sources said.

While the Delhi Waqf Board claims that land on which the mosque is built belongs to them, NDMC has said it is owned by the government. On December 18, the Delhi High Court closed proceedings in the plea moved by the Waqf Board in “anticipation of action” proposed to be taken by NDMC.

The Sunehri Bagh Masjid’s imam Abdul Aziz, meanwhile, opposed claims that the mosque caused traffic congestion in the area. “We have submitted photos and videos we took during Friday prayers to the NDMC. They can clearly see that it was business as usual,” he said.

“At this moment the notification is illegal and arbitrary which we will challenge within 72 hours. There is no imminent threat to the structure because we will challenge this notification,” Waqf Board’s advocate Feroze Iqbal Khan said.

Dr Mohammad Jawed, Kishanganj MP, also took to X (formerly Twitter) to voice his outrage at the NDMC’s notification. “I raise the strongest objection to the proposed demolition of Sunehri Mosque and urge NDMC to devise an alternative plan to save this site of immense cultural importance and heritage,” he said.

According to imam, Aziz the mosque is more than 150 years old. When the British shifted their capital to Delhi in 1911, around 200 villages around Lutyens and Raisina areas were acquired by them to create their centre of administration. The local Muslim community at the time raised objections against their displacement and, in turn, reached an agreement with the British that their places of worship and their graveyards would be left untouched and that the Britishers would plan their city around these spots — of these mosques was the Sunehri Bagh Masjid, he said.

The mosque has also housed freedom fighters like Syed Fazl-ul-Hasan, known by his pen-name Hasrat Mohani. “Maulana Hasrat Mohani, who was a member of the Constituent Assembly, used to reside at the mosque whenever he was in Delhi… he had moved the resolution for complete independence from British rule which was accepted by the Indian National Congress in 1921 and he coined the famous slogan ‘Inquilab Zindabad’, which was later adopted by revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh…with the demolition of the mosque, the legacy of a nationalist and the history associated with it will be destroyed,” author Sohail Hashmi said.