In early January, Imam Barkati offered Rs 25 lakh to anyone who shaved PM Modi's head.
A prominent Muslim cleric in the West Bengal capital Kolkata's Tipu Sultan Mosque who makes headlines for controversial fatwas, or religious decrees, including one recently targeting PM Narendra Modi faced protests earlier this week. On home turf.
Nearly 250 shopkeepers around the mosque downed shutters for a day to protest Shahi Imam Nurur Barkati's attempt to dabble in politics from the precincts of the mosque built by the youngest son of Tipu Sultan in 1832.
"This mosque is no place for politics," said Sheikh Mohammed Aslam, secretary of the Shopkeepers' Welfare Association (Tipu Sultan Mosque). Outside, banners make the same point and accuse the cleric's sons and associates of "outrageous and indecent behavior", a reference to the brutal assault on the mutawali, the manager of the trust that oversees the mosque estate.
Anger has been brewing among the traders against the Imam for holding press conferences in the mosque to make controversial statements on politics, not religion.
In early January, Imam Barkati offered Rs 25 lakh to anyone who shaved PM Modi's head and blackened his face to oppose the notes ban.
A few days later, the Imam - who is often seen with ruling Trinamool Congress leaders including Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee - issued another fatwa, this time to Muslims in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh not to vote for the BJP.
Soon after, the Prince Ghulam Mohammed Shah Waqf Estate - one of the two trusts that manage the properties of Tipu Sultan's descendants - sent a show cause notice to the Imam for political activity inside the mosque and political comments elsewhere "not befitting an Imam."
On February 10, when the mutawali, the estate's manager, objected to another media interaction, he was beaten up. "When we tried to stop the fight, we were threatened and abused," said Mr Aslam. Inside, at the Press meet, Imam Barkati raged: "Who is this mutwali and how can he show cause me... I think the RSS has infiltrated the Tipu Sultan committee".