AGARTALA:
Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind
Tripura chapter on Monday sought the intervention of CM Manik Saha to allow Muslims to offer namaz at the mosque in Dimatali of South Tripura's Rajnagar, which has been stopped by a group of Hindus who claim that there was a temple at the site before.
During the Left Front regime, every year on December 6 (the day of Babri Masjid demolition in 1992), the government sponsored a Sanghati Mela (integration fair) at Dimatali.
Muslims used to offer namaz but after the BJP-IPFT coalition government came to power in 2018, the name of the event was changed to Parjotan Unnoyon Mela (tourism development fair).
The controversy erupted after Hindu Jagaran Mancha submitted a memorandum to the CM on December 10, when he had gone to inaugurate the three-day fair at Dimatali, seeking his intervention to reclaim the old shrine of Lord Jagannath which they claimed existed where the mosque has now been built.
According to police, the structure in question remains forgotten throughout the year but both Hindus and Muslims flock to it during the annual festival. This year, it was disrupted following the controversy.
About 27-odd Muslim families living in the locality, in a letter, recently urged Rajnagar BDO to restore their right to offer namaz inside the mosque. A separate letter was also sent to the South Tripura DM.
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