Manjit Thakur / New Delhi

In Noor Nagar Extension of Jamia Nagar, two policemen are sitting attentively in front of a huge black iron door next to Noor Masjid. A few media persons have arrived, the market place has usual rush and yet an uneasy silence prevails over the Muslim majority areas of south Delhi.

Behind the iron gate is an ancient Shiva temple and, in its compound, there used to be a dharamsala that has since been demolished. It was only last month that the building was brought down and its debris removed.

This scenario is pregnant with chances of generating communal tensions the fire of which can spread far and wide.

Debris being taken in the loader

There is a danger of the issue getting distorted and magnified through social media and the communal flares spreading across.

A senior journalist from the areas who works with a reputed English language newspaper, told Awaz-the voice, “This area has never seen communal tension. At the place where we are standing, some 25 years ago, Hindus and Muslims all gathered together to watch Ramayana and Mahabharata on TV. However, by demolishing the building, the narrative of Hindu-Muslim dispute is being set deliberately.

The said journalist didn’t want to be identified.

Chandrabhan, a local resident, says, “I settled here in 1977. This Shiva temple and its Dharamshala existed even then."

Actually, it is not a Hindu-Muslim dispute. Looking at the facts, this one appears to be a case of intended land grab. Since the temple is at prime location, the cost of this land runs in crores.

Sayyid Faiz-ul Azim, who took the matter to court, says, “Pujas were allowed in this temple till 2015 and Janmashtami festival was celebrated with great pomp here. But then someone locked its door and people stopped paying attention.

Chandrabhan says, “The family of a jeweller had built the temple in the seventies; it was open to all then. Temple is the property of the community. It had a dharamshala in its premises, but the present heirs of the Johri family want to use it for his personal purposes.”

Azim says, “All weddings of Hindus and Muslims were held In this Dharamsala.”

Even in the South Delhi MCD map, Dharamshala is shown as part of the temple premises. However, in the month of August, the Dharamsala building was demolished overnight. As the way to the small Shva temple is through Dharamshalla, it stands cut off for the devotees. Azim says, “The conspiracy is deep because on August 24, I had called the SHO of Jamia Nagar and informed about this sabotage, but when he said that he was out of the city, and will come here tomorrow and see.”

Despite local residents' concern that the temple premises could be vandalized to make the situation dangerous, he did not come 'tomorrow' for the next one month. Azim says that he and some other associates with him again informed the SHO, ACP and DCP on 10 September. For the next one week no one came again to inquire.

The Dharamshala was demolished in the wee hours of night

According to Azim, "I again informed the Delhi Police Commissioner about this on September 17." Azim claims that that night he received a phone call threatening to kill him and an offer of up to Rs 40 lakh to keep his mouth shut.

However, Azim and his associates say that they also applied to the South Delhi MCD commissioner on September 21.

However, on September 22, senior officers from Delhi Police came to inspect the place, but they said that the temple and Dharamshala are separate.

However, in the MCD map, Dharamsala is shown in the temple compound itself.

Some locals, on the condition of anonymity, say that the Johri family had put a bearded man here, who works as a broker in Okhla Mandi. And he was stopping people from entering this complex. This created an illusion that individuals from a particular community were being prevented from entering.

The map showing the area

Under these circumstances, the Delhi High Court on September 24 directed the police that this temple of Noor Nagar Extension should be kept safe and encroachment should not be allowed in it. The court's order came on a plea by the 206 Ward Committee of Jamia Nagar, which had sought a direction to the SDMC against the demolition of the Dharamshala and the temple.

The debris being cleared off

In the court, the committee had also presented photographs of this demolition and also given the layout plan of the temple, which is also available on the website of the Urban Development Department of Delhi Government.

Locals suspect that this act of sabotage was done to capture the site of Dharamshala and erect a multi-storey building at that place. But this could have led to communal tension in the area, as there are only 40-50 houses of Hindus in the Noor Nagar.

Obviously, an attempt is also being made to make a narrative, whose heat could be felt from far away.