Photo: Collected
India correspondent:
Tension has spread over the removal of a part of the 600-year-old Shahi Masjid in India’s Madhya Pradesh. Protesters and police clashed over the incident on Monday.
The situation became extremely tense when work began to demolish a part of the historic mosque as part of a road-widening project. When local residents obstructed the work, a clash broke out between them and the security forces. Police were forced to fire tear gas shells to disperse the crowd.
The road is being widened as part of preparations for the Simhastha Kumbh Mela to be held in Ujjain in the state in 2028. A plan has been taken to widen the roughly 900-metre-long road from Kathal Chauraha to Gopal Mandir to 15 metres. According to the design, a specific part of the Shahi Masjid falls within the road. A large number of people gathered there when the Ujjain Municipal Corporation began work to remove that part.
Earlier, on Sunday night too, hundreds of local residents and members of the Muslim community gathered on the mosque premises and took a stand against the road-widening initiative. Although discussions between the administration and the mosque committee continued through the night, no lasting solution was reached. Although an understanding between the administration and the mosque’s representatives was reported, the situation heated up again amid opposition from local people when the removal work began on Monday morning.
