Images of the newly renovated Modi Masjid in Bengaluru is being shared on social media with the false claim that it is named after PM Narendra Modi. A Facebook page by the name Veera Kesari was among those who circulated the image. “Bohra Muslims inaugurate a new mosque in the name of Narendra Modi in Bengaluru (translated),” the page wrote in Kannada.
The photograph has been shared with the same claim on Twitter as well.
Muslims in Bangalore have named a mosque after @narendramodi Ji. Dont know how many are going to commit suicide after seeing this 😃😃😃 https://t.co/ERpRfyIxl7 pic.twitter.com/w9k6RDEGNQ
— Madhav 🇮🇳 (@mahesh10816) June 19, 2019
Several people have circulated the image with most of the posts marred with anti-Muslim overtones.
Hundred-year-old masjid
While the image of PM Narendra Modi and Dawoodi Bohra leader, Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin hanging on a wall, is indeed from some Bohra masjid. However, the Modi Masjid in Bengaluru is a century old Sunni masjid, which was renovated and reopened for worshippers recently on 29th April 2019. The images are from two different places of worship, belonging to two different communities.
According to Moulana Syed Altaf Ahmed of Modi masjid, the old Modi masjid was built over a hundred year ago by one Abdul Gafoor Modi, who was a well-known philanthropist of the time. The masjid is named after Abdul Gafoor Modi and has nothing to do with either Narendra Modi or the Dawoodi Bohra community.
