CPI(M) condemns Allahabad HC ruling on mosque land acquisition

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Saturday strongly condemned the Allahabad High Court’s recent judgment in the Syed Rashid Ali v. State of UP case, alleging that the ruling severely undermines secularism, minority rights, and the livelihoods of ordinary citizens.

Terming the court’s interpretation of the Places of Worship Act, 1991 “deeply flawed,” the CPI(M) stated that allowing the acquisition of mosques for “public purposes” renders vital secular safeguards meaningless. “When a mosque is demolished for a road, its religious character ceases to exist. This is conversion through acquisition, precisely what the Act was meant to prevent,” the party stated in a press release issued by its Central Committee office.

The Left party also criticised the court’s dismissal of tenants’ rights. It noted that 97 per cent of the petitioners are Muslims who have run businesses for generations in Varanasi’s Dalmandi area. Pointing to a Social Impact Assessment Report, the CPI(M) highlighted that 50 per cent of the affected families reside there and 45 per cent depend on the area for their livelihood, making the displacement a direct violation of their right to livelihood under Article 21.

The Polit Bureau alleged that the decision fits into a wider, systematic assault on minorities to serve the BJP-RSS agenda. It argued that the State Government intentionally targeted the Muslim-majority Dalmandi area, ignoring viable alternative sites like Sonar Gali, which is located much closer to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple and would cause far less displacement.

Accusing the court of failing to enforce the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, the CPI(M) demanded that the Supreme Court immediately intervene and overturn the judgment.