UTTAR PRADESH is once again in the headlines and has become a serious subject of debate among politicians, intellectuals, journalists and YouTubers. The discussion, however, is not about development, the runaway rise in prices, the growing number of unemployed people, the rising crime rate, increasing violence against women, or the need to control crimes against Dalits because none of this seems to be happening. On the contrary, something or the other happens here every day that leaves people distressed and alarmed. The subject of discussion this time is a mosque located in the court complex of Saharanpur district, which was bulldozed on September 5, 2026, allegedly in collusion with the administration, before most people in Saharanpur had even woken up. Local people said that the administration demolished it between 4:30 and 5:00 in the morning, without giving any lawful opportunity, and 22 days before the stipulated deadline.

This is neither the first nor the last mosque to have been demolished. The conspiratorial process that began with the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992, has continued uninterrupted to this day, and there appears to be little possibility of any check being imposed on such acts in the near future. Such incidents are taking place in a planned manner. People have now begun saying openly that the mosque in the Saharanpur Collectorate complex was demolished in collusion with the administration.

The mosque was not built on leased land, government land, Nazul land or any other such public property. According to the records of Khewat No. 10/1, the land stands in the names of Wahid Khan and Yaqub Khan. The mosque was built around 1911. A brick used in its construction bears the inscription “1909”. The mosque is also registered with the Waqf Board. It finds mention in the records of the municipal corporation dating back to 1957. The entire Collectorate complex too stands on the same parcel of land. According to Firoz Khan, the great-grandson of Yaqub Khan, in 1867 the then District Magistrate, H. D. Robertson, took the land on rent for Rs 800 at the rate of Rs 2 and 5 annas per bigha. The mosque and the present-day Collectorate are both situated on the same plot. The mosque itself is more than 100 years old.

The dispute arose when Vikas Tyagi, a Bajrang Dal leader from Bastam in Deoband, submitted a petition to the then District Magistrate, Manish Bansal, alleging that the mosque had been constructed by encroaching upon government land and demanding its demolition. The District Magistrate transferred the matter to ADM Dr Archana Dwivedi. In February 2025, an inquiry was conducted by the Tehsildar, Sadar. Subsequently, on March 24, 2025, the matter reached the court of City Magistrate Kuldeep Singh under the Uttar Pradesh Public Premises Act, 1972. On July 16, 2026, the City Magistrate issued an eviction notice concerning the mosque, which stood on 315 square metres of land, and warned that it would be demolished if it was not removed. A penalty of Rs 6.41 crore was also imposed on the grounds of unauthorised occupation of government land.

The mosque management challenged the order before the District Judge’s Court in Saharanpur. On July 24, 2026, the mosque was granted a stay, which was subsequently revoked, allegedly in collusion. On September 2, 2026, the District Judge dismissed the appeal and upheld the order passed by the City Magistrate. Finally, on September 5, the mosque was demolished.

A strikingly similar incident took place in Ram Sanehi Ghat in Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh, where the Garib Nawaz Mosque was demolished on May 17, 2021. That mosque stood on old Gata No. 558. Later, the number became 776-777 and, after consolidation, was changed to 778-Ka and 778-Kha. While the records were being altered, the existence of the mosque was inadvertently not mentioned. On that basis, the Allahabad High Court treated it as being on public land and it was demolished. Even the mosque inside the Allahabad High Court premises, which was removed following an order dated March 13, 2023, by Supreme Court Justices M R Shah and C T Ravikumar, was said to have been built on leased land.

All these mosques were demolished after the Places of Worship Act, 1991, had come into force. Their physical character was altered. It is true that no other place of worship was constructed there, but the character of the structures was certainly changed. This requires further thought and debate. In the case of the mosque in Dalmandi, Varanasi, the Allahabad High Court held that the character of the mosque was not being changed, but that the property was being acquired in the public interest. This reasoning does not appear particularly convincing. Whether a temple or a mosque, such places also have a public character. If they are removed and replaced with something else, what else can that be called but a change in their character? There will certainly be a debate on this. The reality is that these were decisions driven less by the merits of the cases and more by the intentions behind them.

In the case of the Saharanpur mosque, a question arises: the land taken on rent from Wahid Khan and Yaqub Khan may certainly have come under government possession, but how did the government become its owner? What was the basis for acquiring ownership? If ownership was granted on the basis of possession, then according to recent judgments of the Supreme Court, the rights of a possessor remain subordinate to those of the actual title-holder. The new rules say the same. Why, then, was the matter not resolved as a title dispute? Can the Collectorate ever acquire title over the property without proper documents? If the Collectorate was built on the basis of a sale deed, a will or a gift, why were those documents not produced during the proceedings?

Why was the mosque bulldozed 22 days before the deadline for its removal? Was the administration afraid that it was on the weaker side in the matter? Why was the demolition carried out at four in the morning? Could it not have been done during the day? Why was the Waqf Board not made a party to the case when the mosque is also registered with the Waqf Board? Why was no time given to appeal? These are questions that must be answered.

Generally, in our country, wherever Hindus, Muslims, Christians or followers of other faiths gather inside army campuses, within police lines, inside court complexes or at similar places, arrangements have often been made by the government to facilitate places of worship, keeping their religious practices in mind. In various courts across Uttar Pradesh, one can find both temples and mosques. In several districts, churches can also be found nearby. This has long been part of our social tradition. Why, then, do these incidents appear to be openly defying that tradition?

It would be a mistake for the administration to believe that the protest, which it feared and which prompted this hurried action, will simply disappear once the mosque has been demolished. The belief that dissent can be crushed is a self-destructive one; in the long run, it creates an atmosphere capable of bringing down the very government that seeks to suppress it. It was wrong to assume that the protest would end with the demolition of the mosque.

After the mosque was demolished, our party, the CPI(M), sent its district secretary to the site, where he joined his voice with the protest. Several of our district committees across Uttar Pradesh protested and condemned the demolition. Opposition parties too continue to protest. In an attempt to suppress the matter and bring it to a close, the administration is even placing leaders under house arrest. Unconstitutional actions are being taken to suppress the protest. How long can this continue? This pent-up anger will one day erupt like a volcano, burying all those who are today sitting peacefully and playing their flutes. The administration may be breathing easy today, but sooner or later this pollution will prove suffocating.

There appears to be little hope of any positive initiative from the administration or the government. Even the last ray of hope seems to be disappearing. We have just received information that Saharanpur is about to be repeated in Moradabad. Today’s Navbharat Times, reporting from Moradabad, says that the Moradabad Development Authority has issued a notice and ultimatum to the Mustafa Mosque, alleging that the mosque, located on the Delhi-Lucknow Highway, was constructed through encroachment. According to Navbharat Times, the Moradabad Development Authority has given the mosque’s management committee 15 days to remove the construction. Clearly, the process that began on December 6, 1992, shows no sign of coming to an end.

How far are these boundaries being crossed in the greed for vote-bank politics? Are such actions not being used to fan the flames of a storm? Are they not aimed at uprooting our system from its very foundations? Is this not a major conspiracy against the country?