Those against mosque demolition illegally occupying its property, says mosque committee

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Abdul Majid, a local and against the demolition of the mosque, said: “The masjid is listed as a heritage property in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation website. When demolition started on March 21, we wrote to all the departments concerned but to no avail. Those involved have used muscle and money power to demolish the mosque.”

However, Amiruddin Ahmed, spokesperson for the masjid committee, said: “Some of those opposing the demolition on the pretext that it was a heritage property, were a part of our committee and wanted to develop a section of the masjid property, which they were illegally occupying. We stopped them from doing so and threw them out of the committee. They are now trying to create trouble.”

He added that the mosque previously stood on six cottahs or 4,324 square feet. Now, a new one is being built across 25 cottahs on the adjacent property to the mosque.

“The mosque, which could hardly accommodate 400 people, will now be able to house over 8,000 at a time. Why should people offer namaz on the road and inconvenience others?” Amiruddin asked.

Citing the example of Kaaba — the most sacred mosque of Muslims at Mecca in Saudi Arabia — he said that it has been demolished 11 times to make accommodate more devotees. “If there was any doubt about our intentions, would not there been an uproar in this area which is so thickly populated by Muslims?” Amiruddin added.