Brahmpuri mosque expansion causes row

Construction work to expand a mosque in Brahmpuri in north-east Delhi and to open a gate into the lane housing a small temple just 15 feet away has triggered unrest among the Muslim and Hindu residents of the area, forcing police to remain alert and deploy more personnel to ensure that the discord does not snowball into a repeat of the communal riots witnessed by those neighbourhoods in 2020.

- Karn Pratap Singh

NEW DELHI:

Around 15 Hindu families living in Brahmpuri's Gali Number-12 — to which another gate of Al Mateen Masjid was proposed to be opened by the mosque's managing committee — have put up "property up for sale" posters at their houses after accusing the local Muslim population of causing trouble.

They alleged that they were being forced to vacate their houses with an intent to change the demography of the neighbourhood.

The Muslim population, on the other hand, blamed some politically motivated Hindu residents and outsiders, including members of Right-wing outfits, of "deliberately disturbing" the neighbourhood's communal harmony by portraying the mosque's construction activity in the wrong light.