Elham Asaad Buaras
Eight Muslim religious sites, including mosques, several 13th-century mausoleums, and 47 mostly Muslim-owned homes in the coastal city of Veraval, were demolished by authorities in India’s Gir Somnath district of Gujarat last month despite a temporary halt issued by the Supreme Court.
The six-hour operation in the early hours of September 28, ordered by District Magistrate D.D. Jadeja, affected around 200 residents, with about 150 reportedly detained by police.
The destroyed sites included several mausoleums in the town of Prabhas Patan, such as the Haji Mangrol, Shah Silar, Garib Shah, and Jafar Muzaffar mausoleums. Locals told The Wire that the Haji Mangrol mausoleum was listed in Junagadh state’s property records as early as 1924.
The local administration reported that the operation focused on “unauthorised” buildings and concrete houses constructed on land belonging to the state government and the Hindu Shree Somnath Trust. The trust is chaired by PM Narendra Modi, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and senior politician Lal Krishna Advani serving as trustees. According to some media reports, around 37 acres of land, worth ₹60 crore (£6 million), have been “recovered.”
Nusrat Panja, vice president of the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee and a Veraval local, condemned the demolitions as an effort to intimidate and displace Muslims. “Historic Islamic structures were destroyed along with homes. These shrines have stood for over 800 years, with legal documentation from the time of the Nawab of Junagadh. It’s unreasonable for the collector and the state government to destroy these legal structures,” Panja said in an interview with The Wire.
For locals who lost their homes and places of worship, the destruction was shocking and devastating. “We’ve heard about Muslims being displaced across the country but never imagined something so organised would happen to us,” said a local, reflecting the community’s disbelief.
The scale of the operation was overwhelming. Locals described an intimidating scene with hydraulic cranes, at least 60 excavators, 50 tractor-trailers, and five dump trucks, all guarded by about 1,400 police officers. Basir Gohel, a social activist from the area, recounted the brutality of the process, sharing how many residents were not even allowed to retrieve their belongings. “It was inhuman and deeply political. We knew this wasn’t our fault. This also happened in Surat recently—our prayer hall and part of our graveyard were destroyed,” Gohel said.
The demolition has sparked outrage among rights groups. The Minority Coordination Committee (MCC) of Gujarat, which advocates for religious minorities, quickly responded by writing to Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on the same day, seeking justice for the Muslim community. The letter highlighted the destruction of ancient shrines and pointed out that the Supreme Court had issued a temporary halt on demolitions without its permission until October 1.
The MCC’s call for action resonates with the broader legal struggle now unfolding. Advocate Saquib Ansari, representing the Auliya-e-Deen Committee in the Gujarat High Court, said the demolitions were based on misinterpreted documents. The committee had previously sought court protection against any coercive actions, but, according to Ansari, authorities acted independently, disregarding the court’s intent.
On October 1, the Gujarat High Court expressed “dissatisfaction with the grossly illegal and unconstitutional demolition” in a hearing on the matter. In its response, the Office of the Deputy Collector of Gir Somnath accused the petitioners of “suppressing the truth” and falsely claiming ownership of government land, which it said had been entrusted to the Shree Somnath Trust. The case has now gone to the Supreme Court, which has requested a response from the Gujarat government after hearing a contempt petition from the Summast Patni Muslim Jamat, representing the Patni Muslim community in Prabhas Patan. In the meantime, the district is under Section 163 of the Indian Citizen Security Code, which bans gatherings of five or more people.
The demolitions appear to be part of a larger campaign by the BJP-led government to remove Islamic structures across the country. Last year, over 330 mausoleums were demolished in a so-called “mega clean-up” operation. The campaign, backed by the BJP’s ideological guide, the RSS, was called a crucial effort against “land jihad” by the state’s chief minister—a term used by Hindutva supporters to describe Muslim construction in Hindu-majority areas.
