– Masihuzzama Ansari
The Land and Development Department attached to the Union Urban Development Ministry has issued notices to 123 Waqf properties in Delhi, including mosques, dargahs and graveyards. They have been notified as properties of the Delhi Waqf Board.
These 123 properties were given to the Delhi Waqf Board in 2014. However, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) approached the court and opposed it.
The Delhi Waqf Board approached the Delhi High Court in the case of 123 Waqf properties. The court said the management of 123 Waqf properties will continue with the Delhi Waqf Board. The Delhi High Court, in its interim order, said that the central government can conduct physical inspection of 123 properties. The next hearing in the case will be on November 6.
On February 8, the central government issued an order to end the Delhi Waqf Board’s claim on 123 Waqf properties at important locations of Delhi and ordered physical inspection of 123 Waqf properties.
Muhibullah Nadvi, the imam of the Jama Masjid at Parliament Street, said that a team of four persons had come for the inspection. During the inspection, there was a question about its documents. The imam said the mosque has been inhabited here for more than 350 years and its record is available with the government. He said that when the British conducted a survey of the area in 1880, they also recorded this mosque, whose maps are present in Tehsil Mehrauli and Tis Hazari Court.
Former Presidents Dr. Zakir Hussain, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, APJ Abul Kalam, former Vice President Hamid Ansari and many Muslim MPs, had been coming to this mosque for prayers. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the great freedom fighter of India and the country’s first Education Minister, also used to offer namaz, especially on Fridays, in this mosque.
This mosque is also historic in this sense that as this mosque is situated in front of the Parliament House and also close to the Rashtrapati Bhavan, various heads of states like Yasser Arafat, Zia-ul-Haq, and presidents and prime ministers of many other countries have been coming here for prayers.
In 2016, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who came to attend the Independence Day parade on the invitation of Prime Minister Modi, has also come to the Parliament Mosque for prayers. Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has visited this mosque twice for prayers, once as prime minister and second time as leader of the opposition.
