MANDYA: Residents of a village in Srirangapatna taluk have urged the tahsildar to stop the construction of a mosque at the centre of the village as they apprehend communal tension.
Kodiyala village in Mandya district has Hindu and Muslim families.
The protesters, who converged at the tahsildar’s office, said they had no problems with Muslims building a mosque, but with its location because the centre of the village is Hindu-dominated.
The protesters said that the village has a handful of Muslim families and has a mosque at another location built a couple of decades ago.
The situation has become tense now as some Muslims are trying to build another mosque, they said.
The agitators also claimed that the Muslim community had not obtained the building licence from the gram panchayat for the construction.
Srirangapatna tahsildar Shweta, who received the memorandum from the villagers, has said she would visit the spot on April 13.
The effort to stop the mosque’s construction comes months after Hindutva activists held a protest, asking the authorities not to allow namaz at the Jamia Masjid in Srirangapatna town. They said the structure was a Hanuman temple earlier and was converted into a masjid during Mysuru ruler Tipu Sultan’s time.
