The proposed removal of the century-old Qadeemi Masjid from the Krishi Bhawan site in New Delhi has triggered a political dispute after the Union government told the Delhi High Court that the religious structure must be removed to enable redevelopment of key Central Secretariat buildings.
The government said a permanent religious structure within a government office complex is impermissible and incompatible with the secular character of government property. It described the proposed construction of Common Central Secretariat (CCS) Buildings 4 and 5 as a public project of paramount national importance.
The buildings are planned under the Central Vista Redevelopment Master Plan at Plot No. 120, covering the footprint of the existing Shastri Bhawan and Krishi Bhawan. According to the government’s position before the court, the redevelopment is intended to modernise infrastructure used for the administration and governance of the country.
The Qadeemi Masjid stands on the project site and, the government said, is required to be removed for the project to proceed. The statement did not indicate in the supplied report whether an alternative site, relocation arrangement or rehabilitation plan had been finalised for the mosque.
AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi criticised the government’s position in a post on X. He questioned the contrast between the government’s objection to a mosque on public premises and the Bhoomi Pooja held for the Central Vista project. Owaisi said the mosque had stood at the location before 1912, before Krishi Bhawan was constructed.
“Apparently, secularism is not offended by the use of one faith’s rituals for a public project, but is allergic to a masjid that has stood there even before 1912, long before Krishi Bhawan was even built,” Owaisi said.
The dispute places an existing religious structure within a major government redevelopment footprint at the centre of the court proceedings. The government’s argument focuses on the use and character of state property, while Owaisi’s intervention challenges the consistency of that position in the context of Central Vista’s construction and ceremonial practices.
The redevelopment of Shastri Bhawan and Krishi Bhawan forms part of the wider Central Vista plan to consolidate and modernise central government office infrastructure. The supplied report does not provide a construction schedule for CCS Buildings 4 and 5, details of the mosque’s legal status, or the next date of the Delhi High Court hearing. Further developments will depend on the court proceedings and the government’s implementation plans for the project site.
