Video Producer: Rupsha Bhadra
Video Editor: Mohd. Irshad Alam
Not one but two mosques in Delhi’s Ashok Nagar were vandalised by a mob on Tuesday, 25 February, in the violence that boiled in the national capital for the third consecutive day.
A video which shows a saffron flag being placed atop the Badi Masjid in Gali No 5 went viral. However, another mosque, about half-a-kilometre away, too bears testimony to mob violence.
Mohammad Mainuddin, 56, a garment businessman said, “The mosque has been here since 1980 but there have been no incidents of communal disharmony in the area before this.”
Condemning the vandalism, Mainuddin said, “Be it a Masjid or a Mandir or a church or a Gurudwara – anyone who damages a place of religious worship will never be able to sleep in peace. This the abode of God. Eshwar, Allah and God are all one. People who believe in these gods are known by different names.”
Akbar Qureshi, whose meat shop was beside the Chand Masjid, broke down. “They ruined both my shops. I had bought a new refrigerator. Everything is gone now,” he said.
Qureshi’s Hindu neighbours stood next to him. “No communal divide should get so aggravated. We are all standing by our Muslim brothers and sisters.” One of them, Pooja Dixit, recalled how the mob broke the mosque’s lock, stopped people from recording the events, and used lathis to wreak havoc.
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