15-05-2025
Gujarat Confidential: Reaching out
Citing the case of demolition of Mohammadi madrasa in Amreli's Dhari taluka on May 13, Congress MLA Imran Khedawala and former MLA Gyasuddin Sheikh appealed to the community to take a lesson from the incident. They exhorted the community members to immediately come forward to protect religious, residential and commercial properties by paying the impact fee and regularising unauthorised constructions, which are without government permission, by June 17 — the deadline for the purpose. 'Muslim community should come forward to regularise the construction of mosques, dargahs and madrasas as there is a conspiracy to demolish these settlements…in any way across the state,' the Congress leaders alleged in a statement. In the budget session, Khedawala, the lone Muslim MLA in the Assembly, had become the target of minister Jagdish Vishwakarma who had suggested that encroachments by a 'particular community' were impeding development works.
Days after he was suspended from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for 'damaging party image', Vadodara Municipal Corporation's corporator Ashish Joshi has received a notice from the District Collector and District Magistrate of Vadodara to appear for a hearing in an alleged case of land grabbing in the Danteshwar area of the city, where Joshi resides. The former BJP leader, who has been leading the cause of the victims of the January 2024 Harni Boat Tragedy that killed 14 persons, including 12 students and two teachers, has been named as a respondent in the notice under the Gujarat Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Act, 2020, along with 19 others. Joshi said, 'The notice has been pasted on the Pashupatinath Mahadev temple that is located on land that is said to be government land, outside the legally constructed residential colony where I reside. The area has a slum settlement around, and 19 persons from the slums have been made respondents in the case… I park my car in the compound of the temple, which, I presume, has made them serve me a notice…' He further said, 'We will appear before the committee with the documents as directed. The notice is evidence that under the BJP rule, seeking justice and speaking for victims is seen as a crime and the machinery will be sent after you.'
