Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif along with Shahi Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari when the former visited Jama Masjid in May
One of India's top Muslim clerics has invited Pakistan Premier Nawaz Sharif but not Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a ceremony that will see his son being appointed as his successor as the Shahi Imam of the country's largest mosque.
"The host decides who to invite. And I have no place for Modi in my heart. Modi has not done anything for Indian Muslims even after coming to power. Indian Muslims have not forgiven him for the 2002 Gujarat riots," said Syed Ahmed Bukhari of the famous Jama Masjid in Delhi. Before the national election, he endorsed the Congress party, which emerged with its worst-ever result.
Four senior BJP leaders including Home Minister Rajnath Singh have been invited for dinner on November 29 to mark the occasion, he added, along with Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her son, Rahul.
"We have invited the prime minister of Pakistan as we have had relations with him since my father's time," Mr Bukhari told news agency IANS. In May, the Pakistani Prime Minister visited the Jama Masjid while in Delhi to attend Mr Modi's swearing-in ceremony.
19-year-old Shaban Ahmed Bukhari, will be officially anointed the 14th Naib Imam or imam-in-waiting on November 22.
The Bukharis have been the traditional custodians for almost 400 years of the Jama Masjid, India's largest mosque, since it was built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in the 17th century facing the Red Fort in the capital.