Why Dhannipur made the cut for mosque site
LUCKNOW: The five-acre land at Dhannipur village on the Lucknow-Gorakhpur highway in Ayodhya district was selected for allotment to the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board for construction of a mosque due to a number of reasons.
Some of these reasons included the site’s proximity to a highway, the population mix of the nearby Raunahi town and the history of communal harmony in the area.
The site is nearly 25 kilometres from the place where Ram temple will come up in Ayodhya.
Announcing the allotment, state government spokesman and UP energy minister Shrikant Sharma said, “The land is 200 metres from the highway and has easy access. It’s the best spot in view of maintaining communal harmony as well as law and order.”
Some locals said the demand by some Ayodhya saints that the mosque should be situated outside the main parikrama routes also appeared to have been taken into account.
The state government had initially selected three spots on highways near Ayodhya before the central government zeroed in on the Dhannipur site near Raunahi town, officials said.
While finalizing the land for the mosque, the government ensured that it was located in a Muslim-dominated area so that disputes between the two communities could be minimized, said a state government officer, who refused to be named.
“The area has no history of communal violence and members of both communities have been living in harmony,” the officer said.Mohammad Arshad, a madarsa teacher in Faizabad in Ayodhya district, said, “It’s not the only criterion for selection of the spot.”
After the Supreme Court had ordered for allotment of fiveacre land for the mosque in its Ayodhya verdict on November 9 last year, sadhus, saints and mahants of temples and mutts in Ayodhya had demanded that the land should be allotted outside the ‘panchkosi parikarma’ and ‘14 kosi parikarma’ areas of the temple town, he said.
Dhannipur was outside the parikarma area, he said.
Mahant Raju Das of Hanumangarhi Ayodhya said, “The government has fulfilled our demand to allot land for mosque outside the parikarma area.”
The officer also said the Ayodhya district administration scanned land on highways crossing the temple town, including Lucknow- Ayodhya highway, Ayodhya-Gonda, Faizabad- Azamgarh, AyodhyaBasti and Faizabad- Sultanpur highway.
Three sites on Faizabad Azamgarh, Ayodhya-Basti and Lucknow-Ayodhya highways were shortlisted.
The first two spots were near the parikarma route, so the government zeroed in on Dhannipur, the officer said.
As much as 60% of Raunahi’s population consists of Muslims. The land has been allotted near the mazar of Sufi saint Shahgada Shah.
Al-Jame-atul- Islamia, a noted Islamic seminary of the Sunni Barelvi sect that enjoys considerable influence among the Muslims across the country, is also located at Raunahi.
Ramesh Yadav, 32, the village head of Dhannipur, said, “Now, whosoever comes to visit the grand Ram temple that is expected to come up in Ayodhya will, out of sheer curiosity, visit our village too where the BJP government has chosen the agriculture department’s land for the mosque.”
“I guess the land where the mosque could come up traverses two villages, Dhannipur and Sheikhpur Jafar. Since there is a substantial Muslim population in and around Dhannipur and the adjoining villages, I guess the land is well positioned to cater to the religious needs of minorities,” said Yadav, a graduate, on the phone.
Firoz Khan, a graduate who runs a common service centre (CSC) in Dhannipur, said, “So far, we had two mosques, but now we may get another one. The two mosques in Dhannipur were enough for our village, which doesn’t have a big population. But, the new mosque would surely bring us attention, footfalls and consequently development.”
Immediately after the Supreme Court’s Ayodhya verdict on November 9 last year, the Dhannipur gram pradhan was approached by revenue department officials who had measured the vacant government land in the village. The officials arrived again on Wednesday to make further measurements.
Dhannipur has 77.70 per cent male literacy rate and 62.34 per cent female literacy rate, according to the 2011 Census.
“It’s true that the literacy rate and awareness is impressive in a village which doesn’t have any history of communal bitterness,” said Firoz Khan.
In November 2018, the Yogi Adityanath government had approved the renaming of Faizabad division as Ayodhya and had said it would comprise Ayodhya, Ambedkarnagar, Sultanpur, Amethi and Barabanki districts.
The Sunni Waqf Board is yet to decide on whether it would accept the government’s offer of five-acre land in Dhannipur in Sohawal tehsil of the newly extended Ayodhya limits.