On 24th November, violence erupted in Sambhal after a court-ordered survey at Jama Masjid, as Islamists gathered and started pelting stones at the police. They resorted to arson and clashed with the police present at the scene.
The police had to resort to tear gas and lathi charge to control the Islamist mob. Several vehicles were set ablaze in the area, and stone-pelting continued for hours. Amidst the violence, the Chief Editor of the Urdu daily Nai Duniya and former Member of Parliament, Shahid Siddiqui, blamed Hindus for the violence unleashed by Muslims.
In a social media post, he wrote, “If they search for a shivling under every mosque, then there won’t be any peace in our country and society.”
If they search for a shivling under every mosque then there won’t be any peace in our country and society. https://t.co/cycWDz8zLq
— shahid siddiqui (@shahid_siddiqui) November 24, 2024
Controversial past of Shahid Siddiqui
Siddiqui, who is known for his political turnarounds, has a controversial history. In 2021, a video of him surfaced on social media where he boasted that he had given money to every single madarsa in Saharanpur and Muzaffarnagar, presumably from his MPLADS funds. In the viral video, he emphasised how he had helped every single madarsa in Saharanpur. He then said he has given crores of rupees for these institutions.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Shahid Siddiqui inadvertently revealed that Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi had bought the anti-viral drug for her brother Rahul Gandhi, even though he did not require it. He had thanked Priyanka for securing Remdesivir for him after reading his plea for help on X (then Twitter). He also revealed that Priyanka Gandhi did not want him to thank her publicly for it, but he did so anyway because he wanted to express his gratitude towards her. The revelation came at a time when people were being advised not to hoard Remdesivir.
In May 2020, Siddiqui posted a video of a mother and a toddler sitting on a thin rim connecting two compartments of a fast-moving train. He shared the video of the duo with the intention of criticising the government. Siddiqui wrote, “Look at this mother travelling on a goods train with a child. For her, the risk of dying like this is less than dying of hunger in a heartless city.” He further claimed that such a miserable state of a person can only happen in a country like India. The post was later deleted. In reality, the video was from September 2016, and the location was not India but Bangladesh.
Shahid Siddiqui and his political turnarounds
The Editor-in-chief of the Urdu daily Nai Duniya Shahid Siddiqui has had a very interesting political career. In the 24-year of being in politics, he has changed his affiliations repeatedly. Siddiqui, who joined the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) for the second time on June 7, 2021, started his political journey with Congress. He was appointed as the head of the party’s minority cell in 1997. He then joined the Samajwadi Party (SP) in 2002 as its national general secretary.
Siddiqui served in the Rajya Sabha for the Samajwadi Party from 2002 to 2008, but he left the party on July 19, 2008, to join their then arch-rival, Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). He resigned from the SP because he refused to vote in favour of the UPA during the nuclear deal’s trust vote. Siddiqui was, however, dismissed from the BSP on December 14, 2009, after he spoke against Mayawati. Siddiqui was fired just hours after giving an interview to a national English newspaper in which he attempted to portray Mayawati as a dictator.
He then joined the RLD in April 2010, claiming he supported then-RLD head Ajit Singh’s demand for the creation of a state of Harit Pradesh. Siddiqui resigned from the RLD in protest over the party’s partnership with Congress before the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections in 2012. He thenwent back to the Samajwadi Party.
After forming the government in 2012, the Samajwadi Party fired Siddiqui in July of that year for interviewing Narendra Modi, who was then the CM of Gujarat. After his expulsion, Siddiqui cried foul over his removal from the party. He slammed the then SP head Mulayam Singh saying that the latter owed a lot of his popularity to him. He said that when no publication was ready to write in favour of Malayam Singh, it was his Nai Duniya that had written in his support.
Nevertheless, after being ousted from the SP, it is believed that Siddiqui stayed away from politics for a while, until, one fine day, he announced his support to Aam Aadmi Party. He claimed he was not joining the party but had extended support the party’s campaign. He had urged all Delhites to vote for AAP.
Court ordered survey at Jama Masjid in Sambhal
On 19th November, a court-mandated survey was conducted at Jama Masjid in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh. The court ordered the survey in response to a petition filed by Supreme Court Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, and seven co-plaintiffs, asserting that the mosque occupies the site of a temple dedicated to Bhagwan Kalki. The mosque in question is a protected monument under the Ancient Monuments Preservation Act of 1904. The survey was carried out under the supervision of Advocate Commission. A heavy police force was deployed in the area to ensure the survey proceeded peacefully.
During the survey, however, Muslims living in the area gathered outside the Jama Masjid and raised religious slogans. The District Magistrate of Sambhal confirmed that the survey was completed in around two hours and stated that a report would be submitted to the Civil Court, which will review it on the next date of hearing, 29th November 2024. OpIndia accessed the petition filed by the plaintiffs in the case.
OpIndia’s detailed report on petition filed at the court can be checked here.
