An RTI application has revealed that the Jama Masjid in the Upperkot region of Aligarh district in Uttar Pradesh is constructed on ‘public property.’ Citing the RTI response, a Bharatiya Janata Party politician has requested that the mosque be bulldozed.
The issue surfaced after RTI activist Keshav Dev Sharma filed an RTI with the Municipal Corporation of Aligarh about Jama Masjid. In response, the Municipal Corporation stated that the 300-year-old Jama Masjid in Upperkot was built on public property.
Previously, in June 2021, the activist requested information from the Municipal Corporation under the Right to Information Act on a variety of matters, including who owns the Jama Masjid and the amount o tax it pays.
As per the Municipal Corporation’s response to the RTI, the Jama Masjid is not owned by anybody and is built on public land. It was emphasised in response that the Jama Masjid is not owned by anybody. It is constructed on public property and does not belong to any individual.
Following this, the activist appealed to the District Magistrate, requesting that the mosque erected on public property be bulldozed. According to BJP leaders, whatever is erected on public property is unlawful and should be demolished. Shakuntala Bharti, a prominent Bharatiya Janata Party politician and former mayor, stated, “What remains illegal is illegal. Be it Jama Masjid or anything, it should be broken. It should be absolutely broken, nothing should be done to it. Whoever filed the RTI, the facts that came out are true. And the municipal corporation is also saying that it is illegal, what is illegal is illegal.”
“We will also write a letter to the government regarding this. We will inform the Chief Minister that the facts which have come out to be true on the basis of RTI and what the Municipal Corporation is saying should be considered very soon and what is illegal should be broken and what is legal should not be broken,” she further added.
Samajwadi Party leaders have accused the BJP of using such incidents to deflect public attention away from genuine concerns. Former SP MLA Jamir Ullah claimed that when the mosque was built in 1728, the municipal corporation and the BJP were not in existence.
