INDIA: HINDU MAJORITY VILLAGE NOT ALLOWED MUSLIMS TO CONSTRUCT MOSQUE

Mon 30 November 2020:

Members of the Hindu community have objected to the construction of a mosque in a village in Bargania Police limits of Sitamarhi district in Bihar, Muslim residents of the village said.

The news was first reported by a web-portal, Millat Times, on Sunday evening.

Speaking with Clarion India, Mahmmood, a Muslim villager said the elders from the Hindu community held a meeting near the village temple on Sunday morning in which some Muslims were also invited and they were asked to stop construction of the shrine.

“They asked us that since there was no mosque here before, how have you started constructing it now?” Mahmood, who attended the meeting, said.

The Hindu-majority village comprises nearly two dozen Muslim families who want to construct a place of worship where they can go to offer namaz and also send their children for religious education.

Decades ago, there were only four Muslim families but as the village expanded, their minority population grew and today the village has 25 Muslim households.

They would go to a village 3 km away in Barahi village for namaz but had now decided to have their own mosque and for this they bought the land three years ago from a Hindu.

Mehmood said that they had brought construction material and a few days ago even carried out the excavation for foundation. “But on Sunday, they (the Hindu villagers) told us to stop the work.”

Clarion India approached the mukhiya (village head) for comment. He said he was in Patna and he will return to the village tomorrow (Tuesday) and see for himself the situation there and only then

he can speak on the issue. “Whether it is a temple or a mosque, the construction of a place of religious worship should take place,” he said.

The husband of the ward member of the village told Millat Times that Muslims should have started construction of the mosque after consulting everyone in the village. “Muslims are in the minority and Hindus are in the majority,” he said. “We do not oppose the mosque but such decisions should be taken after consultation.”

“For now, we have stopped the mosque-building work”, Mahmood said. “We will first discuss the way forward among ourselves and then we will approach the government administration.

“If we start the work again, they will come here and stop us, and we will stop,” he said. “What can we do? We cannot fight with them.”

Repeated calls from Clarion India to the police and administrative officials in Sitamarhi went unanswered.

Article originally Published in Clarion India CLICK HERE

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