Several hundred square feet of prime property on platform number six at Majestic railway station in Bengaluru originally earmarked for railway porters had been illegally transformed into a masjid. This didn’t go down well with the locals and several Hindu Organizations warned the railways to take action or be prepared for resistance. Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) wrote to Indian Railways condemning the conversion of workers’ restroom into a place of prayer by Islamists.

Recently, Keralite Islamists on their way to Mangaluru from Bengaluru shot videos of the railway porter’s restroom that was turned into a masjid and uploaded them on social media. Such restrooms are seen at all railways stations in Bharat but they are meant to be used for resting by porters belonging to all religions. 

Interestingly the illegal masjid had even been given a name. Directions towards Masjid-e-Noorani and photos regarding the same are also available on google maps. Some photos are 8 years old!  

Though it looks unassuming from the outside, the insides are plush and someone appears to have spent good money on refurbishing the whole place. Green arches on the wall showed the direction to sit and pray and the whole area was partitioned into several rooms. Prayer mats are spread over a large area and many were seen praying on those mats. Others were just loitering around the place but none had masks. 

Funky green lights lined neatly done false ceilings, tiles covered the walls and luxurious carpets were spread across the floor. Islamist inscriptions and Arabic books are seen on one wall in the video. Just the prayer area had a dozen fans and around 50 LED bulbs illuminate the whole place. 

Just like in a masjid, another portion of the property has been turned into a line of water pipes with a dozen or more of them installed end to end for washing before praying. Cupboards line a wall and since there is no security anyone could keep a bag there and leave. There are a couple of smaller rooms with chairs and some furniture. 

Anyone who has ever peeped into a porters restroom in any metro city will know that this is not how it is supposed to be. Moreover, the sheer area encroached upon is huge. Muslims have taken over the restroom and encroached some more and travelers are using it to pray and rest. With such facilities who will use paid waiting rooms but the issue is that only Muslims are allowed entry? 

Islamist media that took up the issue made the usual claims ranging from Muslims living in fear to radical Hindutva that supposedly began in 2014 and are busy spreading fake news. Sri Ram Sena leaders informed that they will protest till such practices come to an end.  

Many such Masjids on encroached public places have started to pop up all over Bharat. HJS leaders said that this is a threat to national security. Bengaluru has been made a hotbed of terrorist activities and National Investigation Officers (NIA) arrested Adil Asadullah hailing from West Bengal near the Bengaluru Cantonment station in 2018. The very next year another terrorist named Mohammad Akram was arrested from the Majestic area of ​​Bengaluru and later a Bangladeshi terrorist belonging to Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen who was hiding in the Cottonpet Mosque was arrested from the same area.

The protests seem to have woken up the railway authorities who not only converted the place back to the restroom but also ensured that all the paraphernalia related to the mosque were removed. It must be mentioned that the interior and exterior of the room have been re-painted in blue.