Lucknow: The construction of the mosque at Ayodhya’s Dhanipur village kick-started today with hoisting the Indian flag around 8:45 am.
Zafar Ahmed Farooqui, the chief of the Indian Islamic culture foundation (IICF), all 12 members of the IICF trust, and local villagers attended the event and planted a sapling each.
The mosque will be built in two phases on the five acres land allotted by the Supreme Court in Janmabhoomi case in 2019. The chief of the trust appealed for the donations and the contributions from people have already started for the project.
In the first phase, the mosque will be built along with the proposed hospital and the trust will expand the hospital in the second phase, which will house a community kitchen to serve 1000 meals each day. The greenfield area will have plants from all over the world.
The earlier statements by the trust stated that the project includes a museum, a library, Indo-Islamic research centre, a community kitchen, a hospital, and a publication house.
Earlier in 2020, the government said it will not allow the construction of any other building but just a masjid. After the release of the blueprint for the project, the All India Muslim law board member Zafaryab Jeelani opposed the construction of the mosque saying that it will violate the waqf land which is based on the Shariat law.
According to Waqf Act, the lands of mosques cannot be bartered while on the other hand, the Sunni law board, which is allegedly acting under the pressure from the government rejected the contention and said that there is nothing illegal in the construction of the mosque and the Shariat can be interpreted in any way.
“From the minority Perspective residing in Ayodhya, we can say that it is a good start to bring back communal harmony in the district. The start of such construction on the Republic Day will send the message of integrity,” said Mohammed Ghori, a local resident.