Thousands of mosques targeted as Hindu nationalists try to rewrite India’s history

Budaun’s Shamsi Jama Masjid, which Hindu groups claim was originally a temple. Photograph: Shaikh Azizur Rahman/The Observer

In a small, darkened office in Budaun, where dusty legal books line the walls, two lawyers have fallen into a squabble. VP Singh and his taller associate BP Singh – no relation – are discussing Shamsi Jama Masjid, the mosque that has stood in this small town in Uttar Pradesh for 800 years.

According to the lawyers, this grand white-domed mosque, one of the largest and oldest in India, is not a mosque at all. “No no, this is a Hindu temple,” asserted BP Singh. “It’s a very holy place for Hindus.”