Hindutva groups protest at 400-year-old Hyderabad mosque as police watch anti-Muslim sloganeering

Hindu right-wing activists staged a protest outside Madarsa Noomania in Hyderabad’s Balapur, alleging that the institution was accommodating Rohingyas inside the mosque premises, and their sloganeering against Muslims drew criticism as the police failed to act despite being present on the spot.

The protest, led by BJP leader Ramkrishna Reddy, took place near the Masjid-e-Hussaini in Sultanapur under the jurisdiction of Balapur Police Station, and the activists demanded the closure of the madrasa, which has been running inside the mosque for the past seven years, according to Maktoob Media.

The demonstrators raised religious slogans, clapped in unison and invoked Hindu chants while holding a dharna outside the centuries-old mosque, and their agitation intensified until senior police officials reached the site.

The activists later called off the demonstration after the Assistant Commissioner of Police assured them of action against what they described as an illegally run madrasa, although no official orders were issued at the time.

The madrasa authorities rejected the claims and said that the institution had been functioning lawfully, and they maintained that the students enrolled there were from Telangana rather than from outside the region. The in-charge of the madrasa said the allegations of accommodating Rohingyas were fabricated, and he alleged that the controversy had been deliberately stoked by political leaders for the past six months.

Residents of the area expressed concern that the issue was being manipulated to disrupt the communal harmony that has existed locally, and they accused political elements of trying to create division in a peaceful neighbourhood.

The Majlis Bachao Tahreek (MBT) leader, Amjed Ullah Khan, met the Inspector of Police in Balapur, and they demanded action against the BJP activists who organised the dharna and raised slogans targeting Muslims.

The MBT accused the police of allowing the protest to continue unchecked, and they criticised the authorities for failing to detain the demonstrators or register a case despite the overtly communal nature of the agitation.

Questions were raised over why no First Information Report had been filed against the activists, even as videos circulated showing the chanting of slogans outside the mosque.