Mosque in image shared to target BMC, Uddhav govt over ‘illegal structures’ not from Mumbai

Several verified handles, including that of a BJP spokesperson, shared mosque image to hit out at BMC for razing actor Kangana Ranaut's office while ignoring other 'illegal structures'.

Viral image of the mosque in Madhya Pradesh | Twitter

New Delhi: A photograph of a mosque, standing in the middle of the road in a crowded area in ‘Mumbai’, is doing the rounds on social media to hit out at Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for ignoring such “illegal structures”.

Users started sharing the image after the BMC demolished part of actor Kangana Ranaut’s bungalow Wednesday, amid the ongoing spat between the actor and the ruling Shiv Sena.

Several verified accounts, including BJP spokesperson Ashwini Upadhyay, shared the image of the allegedly ‘illegally-constructed’ mosque.

“When will Uddhav ji break this illegal construction?” Upadhyay tweeted in Hindi early Thursday morning. His tweet had garnered over 8,000 retweets before he deleted it at midnight.

Retired IAS officer and author Sanjay Dixit, who also has a verified account on Twitter, shared the image with this comment: “A legal construction in Bandra. When is the BMC going to notice this monstrosity in plain sight? Wait. It only insults the ordinary public, not the penguins and UTs.”

The post has been retweeted more than 1,800 times and has over 3,700 likes.

A legal construction in Bandra. When is the BMC going to notice this monstrosity in plain sight?

Wait. It only insults ordinary public, not the penguins and UTs. pic.twitter.com/4Kg3zocWsx

— Sanjay Dixit ಸಂಜಯ್ ದೀಕ್ಷಿತ್ संजय दीक्षित (@Sanjay_Dixit) September 10, 2020

Another user ‘Yogi Devnath’, who has 1.2 million followers on the platform, also shared the photograph.

ये भी अवैध निर्माण हैं इसे कब तोड़ेंगे उद्धव pic.twitter.com/fJXH1tUrLh

— yogi devnath (@YogiDevnath2) September 10, 2020

The image has gone viral on Facebook too. A user, Vinit Hindu, shared the photograph and wrote, “There are more than 200 illegal mosques in Mumbai, thousands of mausoleums are built between the streets! But BMC only found Kangana’s office as illegal construction!”. The post has been shared over 3,000 times.

मुंबई में 200 से ज्यादा अवैध मस्जिदें हजारों मजारें सड़कों के बीच बनी हैं!पर BMC को सिर्फ कंगना का ऑफिस अवैध निर्माण लगा!#लानत_है

Vinit Hindu यांनी वर पोस्ट केले बुधवार, ९ सप्टेंबर, २०२०

Fact-check

The mosque in the photograph is not from Mumbai but is located in Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar district. The Jama Masjid stands in the middle of a road in Katra Bazaar area of the Sagar town.

If one searches the key words ‘mosque Katra Bazar’ on Google, the image of this mosque pops up.

A search for ‘Jama Masjid Katra Bazar’ also shows the same image that has been used in all the posts above passing it off as a mosque in Mumbai’s Bandra.

In collaboration with SM Hoaxslayer