Mosque meeting row: Barelvi writes to Delhi CM, seeks removal of Nadvi from post of imam

Bareilly (UP): President of Bareilly-based All India Muslim Jamaat, Maulana Shahabuddin Razvi Barelvi, on Sunday wrote to Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta seeking removal of Maulana Mohibbullah Nadvi from the post of imam of a mosque in the national capital, days after a meeting of Samajwadi Party was allegedly held inside the mosque. In a letter, Barelvi said that by holding a meeting of Samajwadi Party inside the mosque, the "sanctity of the mosque has been violated", and the religious faith of the Muslims has been hurt. "No other work can be done inside the mosque except offering prayers to the God," he said.

Nadvi is also SP's MP from Rampur in Uttar Pradesh. Barelvi also said that in this meeting, SP's Lok Sabha MPs Dharmendra Yadav, Dimple Yadav, Ziaur Rahman Barq and other leaders participated along with party chief Akhilesh Yadav. "Impure people cannot come inside the mosque. Only those people can come to the mosque who are pure," he said in the letter. He added that entry of women is prohibited inside the mosque, but two women came inside the mosque, and also participated in the meeting. A religious place like a mosque was used for politics, through this meeting a political message was given that the Samajwadi Party is sympathetic to Muslims, he said. "Therefore, I demand from you that the Imam of the mosque, Maulana Mohibbullah Nadvi, should be removed from the 'Imamat', and a person with Sufi ideology should be made the Imam who is not political," Barelvi said in the letter to Gupta.

Earlier, the minority wing of the BJP demanded the disqualification of Nadvi as a member of the Lok Sabha for allegedly holding an "office of profit" as an imam of a mosque and drawing a salary from the Waqf Board. In a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, BJP minority morcha president Jamal Siddiqui said the Rampur MP is also the imam of a mosque near Parliament and receives a monthly salary of Rs 18,000 from the Waqf Board. Under Article 102(1)(a) of the Constitution, the imam's post that Nadvi holds can be considered an "office of profit" because it is financed by a statutory body under the Delhi government, Siddiqui said. The minority morcha of the ruling BJP said Siddiqui has also written to Delhi CM Gupta, demanding Nadvi's "immediate removal" as the imam of the mosque, as he accused the Rampur MP of using the mosque as his "personal property". "On July 22, 2025, Mohibbullah Nadvi, along with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, his wife, Dharmendra Yadav and other MPs, party workers, held a party meeting at the mosque where Namaz is offered and also had tea and snacks, which is against the Islamic model code of conduct," Siddiqui had said. Nadvi also took SP MP Dimple Yadav to the mosque, even though the entry of women is prohibited there, he alleged. "There is a place on the first floor of (the mosque) for women to sit. It is worth noting that Dimple Yadav's dress was also against the rules of the mosque," Siddiqui charged. "Mohibbullah Nadvi is using this mosque as his personal property and is promoting Samajwadi Party there, which cannot be done as an Imam," Siddiqui said.