Tension in Ujjain as mosque partially demolished for Hindu pilgrimage road

Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, was tense on Tuesday after authorities began removing part of the Shahi Masjid’s minaret, amid the mosque’s partial demolition to widen a road for the Simhastha Kumbh Mela — the Hindu pilgrimage held every 12 years on the Kshipra River, next due in 2028.

On Sunday night, bulldozers arrived near the Chhatri Chowk mosque and hundreds of Muslims began a night vigil outside. Zeeshan Khan, 30, who runs a digital marketing business, told Al Jazeera he had not slept properly for three nights. He said the municipal corporation issued a notice about two months earlier giving the mosque until September 10 to “remove the structure ourselves”, failing which the government would take strict action.

The High Court’s Indore Bench dismissed two petitions against the removal on September 9, ruling the procedure was followed and the 2028 pilgrimage needed the extra space for traffic, the Indian Express reported.

After talks with the authorities, the committee negotiated the removal down from over seven feet to three, and community members took down part of the platform themselves with hammers and rods. “We demolished it with our own hands,” Khan told Al Jazeera. “It hurts us deeply.”

On Monday morning, police fired tear gas after demonstrators allegedly pelted stones at security personnel, the Indian Express reported, with around 2,000 personnel deployed and movement restricted within about 500 metres of the mosque. Media reports cited by Al Jazeera said at least a dozen people were injured in the baton attack and several men were arrested.

Authorities blamed AI-generated social media posts by some Muslim men for fuelling the rumours, Al Jazeera reported. The area has since been sealed, with heavy security deployed.

On Tuesday, the Monitoring Committee of Indian Muslims organised a protest in New Delhi over the demolitions, joined by several Muslim parliamentarians and religious leaders. Jamaat-e-Islami Hind president Syed Sadatullah Hussaini said in a statement: “When a place of worship is demolished, or action is taken against it without ensuring legal and constitutional protections, it raises serious questions about the rule of law.”

Al Jazeera said calls to two BJP spokespersons in Madhya Pradesh went unanswered. It also reported hundreds of Muslim sites partially or fully demolished in several BJP-governed states in recent years, many at night and some while cases were still pending in courts. The state has been BJP-governed since 2003, barring a brief 15-month Congress interval.