Adina Masjid Dispute: BJP-Linked Group Plans Shiva Lingam Installation In Malda

A BJP-linked organisation's plan to install a 1.5-tonne Shiva Lingam outside the 14th-century Adina Masjid in West Bengal's Malda district on Monday has intensified a dispute over the protected monument, with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) barring any religious activity inside the site and police increasing security arrangements.

According to The Indian Express, the campaign has gained momentum months after BJP leaders raised in Parliament claims that the mosque stands on the site of an ancient Adinath Temple. While the organisers say they will confine prayers to an area outside the monument and pursue the matter in court, the ASI has reiterated that no unauthorised religious activity will be permitted inside the centrally protected site.

Built in 1373 AD by Sikandar Shah in Pandua, Malda, the ASI considers the Adina Masjid to have been the biggest mosque in medieval times in the entire subcontinent. Hindu groups and the BJP maintain that it was constructed on the site of an Adinath Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva.

The Indian Express reported that the 'Adinath Puratan Shiv Mandir' organisation plans to install a 3.6-ft-high Shiva Lingam, weighing 1.5 tonnes, outside the mosque after bringing it from Tarakeshwar, around 289 km away.

Kajal Goswami, the organisation's chief patron and convenor of the BJP's Good Governance Wing for North Bengal, said: "There are Hindu and Buddhist statues in the so-called mosque. The Adinath Temple was destroyed to build a mosque on it."

The group also claims that the mosque contains several Hindu and Buddhist motifs, including a Shiva Lingam, and has said it will approach the Calcutta High Court seeking an ASI report on the issue.

"Our aim is to restore the temple and place the Shiva Lingam inside it," Goswami said.

"But we will follow the law," Goswami stresses. "We do not want a law and order problem. We have already held a meeting with representatives of the ASI and police, and they told us to do puja outside the mosque area."

The ASI has maintained that no religious activity will be permitted inside the protected monument. Describing the Adina Masjid as "a historic monument", a senior ASI official confirmed that representatives had met the organisers ahead of the proposed programme.

"Nothing will be allowed inside the monument. Police deployment has been increased. We are also increasing our staff strength." No prayers are currently held inside the mosque.

As reported by The Indian Express, the Malda district police recently issued an advisory after receiving information about social media posts claiming that "certain individuals intend to visit Adina Monument and perform religious rituals, including puja and other ceremonies".

"The general public is hereby informed that Adina Monument is a Centrally Protected Monument of National Importance under the Archaeological Survey of India and is governed by the provisions of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 (AMASR Act). No religious rituals or any other unauthorized activities are permitted within the protected monument premises," the advisory said, warning of strict legal action against violations.

The issue was raised in Parliament on December 5, 2025, months before the West Bengal Assembly elections, when BJP Rajya Sabha MP and current state president Samik Bhattacharya raised it in the Rajya Sabha, saying: "The Adina Mosque… was constructed in 1373 AD by Sultan Sikandar Shah of Bengal Sultanate. This mosque was built using material from pre-existing Hindu and Buddhist structures. Local traditions and historical accounts suggest that the site was originally home to Adinath Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu. The presence of Hindu iconography within the mosque and architecture supports this assertion."

Adding that "the Adinath Temple needs to be protected at any cost", Bhattacharya said: "It is one of those thousands of temples which, following the invasion of West Bengal, were destroyed by the invading hordes… I hope that the Government of India, the Archaeological Survey of India, will look into the matter seriously."

Speaking to The Indian Express, BJP Rajya Sabha MP and former West Bengal BJP chief Rahul Sinha compared the dispute to the Ayodhya Babri Masjid row, saying:

"A lot of emotions and religious sentiments prevail in connection with the Adinath Temple. Like Ram Mandir and other temples, it was also destroyed and a mosque built on it… The religious sentiment surrounding the temple should not be ignored, and truth must prevail."

Sinha also claimed that "Idols of Hindu Gods in upturned form" could still be seen inside the Adina Mosque.

"Long back, puja used to be offered there, as far as I can remember. Later, it stopped. The land belonging to the temple was also encroached upon," he said.

CPI(M) state secretary and Politburo member Md Salim accused the BJP of following a familiar pattern, saying: "The BJP or RSS, whenever they get a foothold, they start this. In the first stage, they bring in religious activities. Then they create conflict and division. The Adina Mosque is the latest example."

He added: "They will also start finding such things in Hooghly, Bardhaman, North and South 24 Parganas districts. After Babri Masjid, Bhojshala (in Madhya Pradesh) happened. They have consolidated this in Uttar Pradesh and now such things will happen in Bengal."

Referring to the ongoing student protests at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, Salim said: "These have shown that a movement should bring people together, not divide them."

According to the ASI website, the Adina Masjid "was the largest mosque in medieval times not only in Bengal but also in the whole of the subcontinent". An inscription on the rear wall records that it was built in 1373 CE by Sikandar Shah, son of Ilyas Shah. The ASI also notes: "Sultan Sikandar Shah, the second Sultan of Ilyas Shahi dynasty, declared himself to be the 'most perfect of the sultans of Arabia and Persia' in 1369."