Recently, a controversy erupted in Dehradun around the construction of a Mosque in Dalanwala’s MDDA Colony. It all started when a purported letter started doing rounds on the internet, relying on which, several media houses carried out reports regarding the same. According to the purported viral letter, it was claimed that BJP leader Ganesh Joshi had directed the concerned authorities in 2009 to allocate land for the construction of a mosque in the Dalanwala area.
Subsequently, several social media users protested against this purported decision of allocating land for the construction of the Mosque in this MDDA colony.
Now, Cabinet Minister Ganesh Joshi has taken cognizance of these reports and the said letter doing rounds regarding the allotment of a plot for the Mosque is fake. Apparently, he has written a letter to Banshidhar Tiwari, Vice President of the Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) over this issue. In his letter dated 5th August, Joshi claimed that the viral letter signed under his name asking for plot allotment for the Mosque in Dalanwala area is fake.
Yesterday Many RSS/ BJP supporters went outraging at Midnight accusing our popular @ganeshjoshibjp @pushkardhami of allowing land to a masjid , conflating with Nuh and bemoaning BJP . The supposed letter was fake . I put out counters immediately . Joshi ji Counter pic.twitter.com/7gWe8DgyH5
— Nidhi Bahuguna 𑆤𑆴𑆣𑆴🇮🇳 (@vinirish) August 6, 2023
Further, he has instructed the official to cancel the actions that may have been taken in accordance with that viral letter, which he has termed to be fake. He has also asked the MDDA official to register an FIR against the unknown person who produced or initiated this fake letter.
The letter dated 5th of August, 2023, states, “It has come to notice from the viral letter attached in various dailies and social media posts, that I have made a request to allocate a plot for the construction of a mosque in MDDA Colony, Dalanwala, Dehradun.”
Going ahead, the BJP leader categorically stated in his 5th August letter that he has never used the kind of letter pad that is seen in that viral letter claimed to be signed under this name.
The 5th August letter further reads, the said viral letter appears to be from 2008-09, and at that time the undersigned was MLA from the Rajpur constituency. However, even back then when he was an MLA, he never used such a letter pad, on which Uttarakhand Government was written. At that time he used to have a letter pad with the serial number issued by the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly, a format of which was also included in his letter.
After highlighting the reasons why the said viral letter claimed to be signed under his name is fake, in the letter, Minister Joshi said, “Therefore, it is expected from you to cancel the actions taken in this matter considering the viral letter as my genuine letter, and making sure to take action on priority to register an FIR on your behalf against the unknown person who used such a letter pad in his name or fabricated and initiated this issue.”
