In a statement issued by the party's Polit Bureau, CPI(M) said the July 2 ruling in Syed Rashid Ali v. State of U.P. has rendered the Places of Worship Act, 1991 "meaningless" by holding that the Act does not prohibit the acquisition of mosques for "public purposes" like road-widening.

 

"The Court's interpretation of the Places of Worship Act, 1991 is deeply flawed. By holding that the Act does not prohibit acquisition of mosques for 'public purposes,' the Court has rendered this secular safeguard meaningless," the statement said.

 

The party said that when a mosque is demolished for a road, its religious character ceases to exist, calling it "conversion through acquisition" – precisely what the Act was meant to prevent .

 

The CPI(M) also slammed the court's observation that tenants have "hardly any rights" in acquisition matters, noting that 97 per cent of the petitioners in the Dalmandi area were Muslims who had run businesses for generations with rent agreements and electricity bills .

 

"The Social Impact Assessment Report showed 50 per cent of families reside there and 45 per cent depend on it for livelihood. Yet the Court ignored their right to livelihood under Article 21," the statement said .Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp Channel

 

The party alleged the judgment followed the pattern of the Bhojshala ruling and ongoing mosque disputes, representing a "systematic assault on minorities serving the BJP-RSS agenda of transforming India into a Hindu Rashtra."

 

It pointed out that alternative sites like Sonar Gali, located much closer to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple (100 metres versus 800 metres), could have been developed with far less displacement .

 

"The State chose Dalmandi, a Muslim-majority area, instead," the CPI(M) said.

 

The party also noted that the court failed to address the violation of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, which requires rehabilitation for all affected families.

 

The CPI(M) demanded that the Supreme Court overturn the judgment. The verdict was delivered by a division bench comprising Justices J.J. Munir and Arun Kumar while dismissing a petition filed by six Muslim shopkeepers from Varanasi's Dalmandi area .

 

The petitioners had sought to halt the road-widening project linked to the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor and protect six ancient mosques – Anjuman Intezamia Masjid, Masjid Rangile Shah, Masjid Ali Raza Khan, Masjid Karimullah Baig, Masjid Nisaran and Masjid Sangamarmar – which they claimed had existed before August 15, 1947 . (KNS)