Muziris Project controversy: Modi fails to keep date with India’s oldest mosque in Kerala

Staff correspondent, August 27, 2015, NewsCrunch

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled visit to India's oldest mosque, Cheraman Juma Masjid in Kerala, has failed to materialise.

Though dates had never been firmed up, the Prime Minister was expected to visit the  mosque in Methala, Thrissur, in late July or early August this year.

After Modi went to a mosque in Abu Dhabi, a demand was made on him by Indian Muslim leaders to visit a mosque within the country.

Built in 629 AD, the Cheraman Jum'ah Masjid is open to followers of all religions. It has an ancient oil lamp, which is believed to be burning, for more than a thousand years.

But it is not the mosque that has become contentious; Kerala Tourism’s Muziris Heritage Project that Modi has been invited to inaugurate seems to have become the sticky point, reports The Hindu.

The Muziris Heritage Project seeks to revive an ancient sea port and showcase 3000 years of cosmopolitan Kerala history that was shaped by Arabs, Chinese, Jews, Romans, Portuguese and the Dutch.

The Muziris was the gateway through which first Islam, and later Christianity, landed in India.  

The Sangh Parivar leaders oppose Muziris Heritage Project for reasons, which are not spelt out clearly.

The Hindu quoted a 2011 Organiser article, which said the Left was conspiring to show Muziris as a centre of composite culture of different races, while depicting Hindus as Vanvasis.

According to BJPState president V Muraleedharan, PM Modi had only said he would consider the invite to inaugurate the Muziris project, but had never committed to it.