A mandir-masjid row is brewing now in West Bengal as a Hindu right-wing group, led by a BJP leader, conducts prayers near a 650-year-old mosque which it claims was once a temple, in Malda district. On the coming Monday, the ‘Adinath Puratan Shiv Mandir’ organisation plans to install a big Shiva Lingam outside the mosque.Built in 1373 AD by Sikandar Shah, the Adina Masjid in Pandua, Malda, is considered by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to have been the biggest mosque in medieval times in the entire subcontinent. However, Hindu groups and the BJP have been claiming that it came up in the place of an ‘Adinath Temple’, dedicated to Lord Shiva.AdvertisementKajal Goswami, the chief patron of the Adinath Puratan Shiv Mandir and a convenor of the BJP’s ‘Good Governance Wing’ for North Bengal, says: “There are Hindu and Buddhist statues in the so-called mosque. The Adinath Temple was destroyed to build a mosque on it.”The organisation claims many Hindu and Buddhist motifs are present in the mosque, apart from a Shiva Lingam, and says it will approach the Calcutta High Court soon seeking an ASI report on the issue. “Our aim is to restore the temple and place the Shiva Lingam inside it,” Goswami says. A 3.6-ft-high Shiva Lingam, weighing 1.5 tonnes, is being brought from Tarakeshwar, 289 km away, for installation near the mosque. (www.asiraiganj.in)“Our aim is to restore the temple and place the Shiva Lingam inside it,” Goswami says. A 3.6-ft-high Shiva Lingam, weighing 1.5 tonnes, is being brought from Tarakeshwar, 289 km away, for installation near the mosque.Advertisement“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.”Calling the mosque “a historic monument”, a senior ASI official confirmed to The Indian Express that their representatives had held a meeting with the organisers of the prayers. “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.Recently, the Malda district police issued an advisory saying it had heard 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 statement added, warning strict legal action in case of any violation.It was on December 5, 2025, that – months to go for the West Bengal Assembly elections – BJP Rajya Sabha MP and current Bengal president Samik Bhattacharya scaled the issue up, to Parliament. “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.” (www.asiraiganj.in)In his statement in the House, he said: ‘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 chief Rahul Sinha compared the dispute to the Ayodhya Babri Masjid row. “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.”“Idols of Hindu Gods in upturned form” can still be spotted in the Adina Mosque, Sinha said, claiming: “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.”CPI(M) state secretary and Politburo member Md Salim said it was a familiar playbook of the BJP. “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.”you may likeSalim said the BJP won’t stop at Adina. “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 protests by students at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, the CPI(M) leader said: “These have shown that a movement should bring people together, not divide them.”As per the ASI website, the Adina Mosque “was the largest mosque in medieval times not only in Bengal but also in the whole of the subcontinent”. An inscription on the back wall says it was built in 1373 CE by Sikandar Shah, son of Ilyas Shah. “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,” the ASI says.