New Delhi

Shahi Imam of Delhi’s Jama Masjid, Syed Ahmed Bukhari, appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “talk to Muslims of the country” as communal tensions rise over mosque surveys in various parts of India. He talked about the matter during the Friday prayers, also also urged Muslim youth to remain patient.

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Modi "should do justice to the chair you are sitting on. Win the hearts of Muslims. Stop the miscreants who are trying to create tensions and affecting the atmosphere of the country,” Bukhari said on Friday (Dec 6), according to multiple media reports.

“We are standing in a situation worse than the one we were in 1947. No one knows which way the country will go in the future,” an emotional Bukhari said at Jama Masjid, reported Indian website News18.

His teary-eyed appeal comes on the heels of violence in Sambhal district of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where a court had ordered a survey of the Mughal-era Shahi Jama Masjid. Bukhari said that Modi should invite three people each from the Hindu and the Muslim sides to solve the problem.

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Also Read: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi stopped at Ghazipur border on way to Sambhal, says 'against rights'

A petition filed with the court had claimed that the site previously had a Harihar temple. The court ordered a survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid on November 19, after which tensions rose from November 24.

As the team of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) reached the site to examine the Mughal-era mosque, people started throwing stones at them.

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In the ensuing violence, at least four people died while several others were injured, including officials and locals.

Bukhari urged the PM to take a look at the present situation in the country.

“ASI has told us that we have no intention of surveying Delhi Jama Masjid, but the government should seriously think about the survey being done in Sambhal-Ajmer and other places."

"All these things are not good for the country. I only say that moments committed mistakes, centuries got punished… how long will the country run like this. How long will Hindu- Muslim, temple-mosque continue?,” he asked.

(With inputs from agencies)