Hundreds of Muslims have gathered in Ujjain to protest the partial demolition of a mosque they say is more than 600 years old. The BJP-led state government says the action is necessary to widen roads ahead of the 2028 Hindu pilgrimage of Simhastha. Critics say the state is willing to erase a 650-year-old historic monument to please a section of Hindus and advance its own politics, even though the mosque trust has already given up 9 feet of land for the same project.
The protest follows a Madhya Pradesh High Court order this month dismissing petitions against municipal notices to remove part of the mosque, filed by groups administering the waqf property, Shahi Masjid Waqf Panchayat Mochiyaan. The Muslim side is now approaching the Supreme Court, which, locals say, is exactly why the administration wants the mosque down before a stay can be granted.
A question of selection
The Shahi Masjid stands at Chhatri Chowk. Right next to it is the Gopal Mandir on Kamri Marg, roughly 500 metres from the alternate route serving the mosque. Locals ask: Kamri Marg and Patni Bazar have traffic problems too, but because the Gopal Mandir is there, is the administration keeping it out of the widening? In the name of widening, it is mosques that are being targeted, not temples. A Muslim family lives in the house opposite the Shahi Masjid; the owner says the administration can demolish as much of his house as it wants and widen the road, but its real aim is to demolish the mosque.
Voices of protest
The administration’s attempts to demolish the Shahi Masjid in the name of road widening need to be more sensitive. Bringing down a 600-year-old heritage site purely for widening and so-called development is hatred at its extreme. If the matter is still pending in court, what message is the administration trying to send by repeatedly cordoning off the mosque? While heavy security forces were deployed around the mosque and allegations of stone-pelting by the public were raised, the police were seen using force and firing tear gas shells, creating a tense situation, even as repeated appeals were made from the mosque not to fire tear gas.
Mosques, temples and gurudwaras are not just structures of brick and stone. They are our places of worship, sacred spaces for the peace of our souls. It is deeply sad and shameful that the very places of worship that shape our lives are being razed in the name of development. Leaders come forward only when they need votes, and playing with people’s emotions has become routine for them. Only selected places of worship are being targeted.
Muslims gathered from the morning, forming a human shield in a standoff with the forces opposing the demolition. Hundreds of mosques have already been brought down, and Muslims are effectively saying, ‘No more, not over our dead bodies.’ A bulldozer is not the law, and demolition is not due to the legal process.
If places of worship are under threat, who protects them? The law, or citizens themselves? Faith must be protected; rights demand accountability. Why should a legally built, historic mosque be demolished for the sake of a Hindu religious event?
Just as the Sati Gate was left untouched, the Shahi Masjid should also be preserved. In western Uttar Pradesh, a century-old mosque inside a government premises was turned to rubble within hours of a court dismissing the appeal against its demolition.
Protecting these sacred places is the constitutional and moral responsibility of those in power. My request to the Ujjain administration is to respect people’s sentiments and acquire the land needed from the other side. Demolishing a historically significant heritage site can never be treated as a normal event.
A wider pattern
Home to over 300,000 mosques, India carries a legacy where these spaces have long transcended mere worship, fostering social solidarity and brotherhood across communities. Yet this contribution is often drowned out by an Islamophobia propaganda machine that highlights names and religion in crime reporting, links mosques and madrasas to “terror” or “illegal encroachment”, and justifies bulldozer actions as mere law-and-order matters. The mosque’s image in public perception is shaped less by its authentic 1,400-year-old role and more by this media-constructed portrayal rooted in suspicion and fear.
The targeting of mosques has become a recurring pattern, sometimes through court interventions, sometimes via overnight municipal notices, and sometimes with bulldozers deployed despite valid documentation. According to the Association for the Protection of Civil Rights (APCR), 69 Islamic religious sites were demolished or declared “illegal” in India in 2025 alone; of 20 demolition cases recorded between June 2024 and February 2026, 11 were triggered solely by PILs citing “illegal construction”. This continues despite the Places of Worship Act 1991, which bars any change to a religious site’s character as of August 15, 1947, yet mosques keep falling victim to road widening or highway construction.
History bears witness that in every crisis, the mosque has stepped into new roles for public welfare, a quarantine centre or refugee shelter during COVID, a resting place for NEET exam parents, or a sanctuary for protesters fleeing police excesses. A nation’s progress needs mutual brotherhood and connected hearts. Repeatedly targeting one community’s religious sites can never deliver social and economic development; where one section feels insecure, collective progress stays a pipe dream. The mosque has never been merely a place of worship but a centre for consultation and resolving social issues, a role it continues to fulfil today.
Attacks on mosques aren’t just assaults on brick and mortar; they strike at trust built over centuries. When a community repeatedly feels its places of worship are unsafe, it begins to see itself as alienated rather than integrated, and that alienation weakens the social fabric.
The solution needs only the right intent, enforce laws like the 1991 Act with equal strictness across all faiths, ensure a transparent process with adequate notice, hearing, and judicial oversight, and hold media accountable for fact-based reporting instead of sensationalising religion. If the nation is to truly progress, it must extend equal security and respect to every citizen and every place of worship, for a house cannot be called strong if even one room in it is unsafe.
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