4 min readNew DelhiJan 8, 2024 09:02 AM IST
First published on: Jan 8, 2024 at 05:15 AM IST
When Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker set out to build the new capital of British India in Delhi in the first half of the 20th century, they were clear what they did not want it to replicate: The Gothic-Victorian style buildings in Mumbai, then Bombay.
According to Robert Grant Irving, in his book Indian Summer: Lutyens, Baker, and Imperial Delhi, several discussions took place on where exactly the site of the new capital should be. Some suggested the old seat of the Mughals at Shahjahanabad while others thought the northern part of the city was especially scenic, considering that it overlooked the Ridge and the Yamuna.
However, Lutyens and Baker preferred the “open, virgin land” to the South of Delhi. Besides being large in expanse, the location could also give the British a chance to break away from the Mughal mould and cement their own identity into the architecture of the buildings. However, the first step they had to take was to remove the villages that had existed there for generations.
Little research exists regarding this but local, oral history suggests that the erstwhile villages in Lutyens Delhi and in the Raisina area were Muslim-dominated areas. According to the Sunehri Bagh Mosque’s Imam Abdul Aziz, the villagers reached a deal with the British: The latter could take the land as long as they left their graveyards, tombs and religious places alone. One of the places to benefit from the move was Sunehri Bagh Masjid. It was decided that the British would let it remain on its grassy knoll while constructing a convergence of roads around it, making it a roundabout for easy commute.
The move isn’t a matter of surprise, since, according to historian Swapna Liddle, the British had also planned Connaught Place and other parts of Delhi around Jantar Mantar, Gurdwara Bangla Sahib, Gurdwara Rakab Ganj, Zabita Ganj mosque, Hanuman Mandir on Baba Kharak Singh Marg and a couple of Jain temples. Even the tombs on Lodhi Garden were spared and were, instead, left to be created into green zones for the city.
Built around 150 years ago, the Sunehri Bagh mosque was not built on a royal decree. It was, and still is, a regular mosque for regular people to pray in. According to the Imam, the structure is humble and quaint because it used to be a simple, village mosque where the villagers would convene for prayer or social events.
But besides the locals, the Sunehri Bagh Mosque also housed freedom fighters such as Syed Fazl-ul-Hasan, known by his pen name Hasrat Mohani who was a celebrated poet credited with coining the slogan Inquilab Zindabad – Long live the revolution.
“Maulana Hasrat Mohani used to reside at the mosque whenever he was in Delhi to attend sessions of the Constituent Assembly. He was a simple man who used to travel to places on a bicycle or Tonga – this is the same Hasrat Mohani who had moved the resolution for complete Independence from the British rule which was accepted by the Indian National Congress in 1921. He coined the famous slogan “Inquilab Zindabad”, which was later adopted by revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh,” according to heritage conservationist Sohail Hashmi.
Today, the mosque stands in the eye of a storm. While the building is a gazette notified Grade-III heritage site, according to the Delhi government, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) recently sought public opinion on its proposed demolition with officials arguing that the structure causes traffic snarls. Although the status of Sunehri Bagh Masjid’s demolition is presently under a cloud, historians, heritage enthusiasts and the local population are holding their breath.
“With the demolition of the mosque, a legacy of a nationalist, the history associated with it will also get destroyed,” said Hashmi.
Sunehri Bagh Masjid was built 150 years ago. (Express Photo by Amit Mehra) 
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