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The demolition of a Barabanki mosque by the district administration has caught the attention of opposition parties, with both the Samajwadi Party and Congress demanding a judicial probe into the incident to bring facts to the fore. They alleged that the demolition was carried out against the orders of the High Court which reflected that no rule of law exists in Uttar Pradesh.
To collect first hand information, a Congress delegation led by UPCC chief Ajay Kumar Lallu, former MP PL Punia and media chairperson Naseemuddin Siddiqui and other leaders was on its way to the demolished structure in Ram Sanehi Ghat area of Barabanki, when they were was stopped at Chaupala area by a team of Barabanki police on Thursday. After a heated discussion with the police, the delegation was forced to return.
Later, Lallu told mediapersons in Lucknow that not allowing opposition leaders to visit any place amounted to crushing democracy.
“The Congress will continue its struggle against such repressive policies of the BJP government and will not tolerate this kind of dictatorship. The Yogi government has been a failure on every front. People are dying due to lack of oxygen, ventilators and treatment in the second wave of Covid and hence lost faith in this government. The ruling party is trying to regain power by spreading religious hatred and dividing Hindus and Muslims,” he said.
On their proposed visit to Barabanki, the Congress leader said, “We want an investigation into the mosque demolition to be done under High Court supervision so that the truth emerges. We merely wanted to go to the spot and talk to the local residents to learn the sequence of events, but the administration denied our travel.”
Earlier on Wednesday, former UP CM and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav also condemned the demolition of the Barabanki mosque, claiming that it was a BJP ploy to whip up communal tension in the state as the next Assembly election is scheduled early next year.
“The move to demolish the mosque by the administration goes against the spirit of brotherhood and communal harmony that is enshrined in the Indian Constitution. Demolishing a 100-year-old mosque is a misuse of power. The BJP has a history of being involved in such acts. With the state polls approaching, the BJP is trying to create communal tension. It has always indulged in its brand of politics at the expense of the country's Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb (culture of harmony). The people need to be wary of this. A judicial probe into the incident should be carried out by a sitting judge of the Allahabad High Court,” SP chief said while reacting to the incident.
The Barabanki district administration razed an old mosque in Ram Saneehi Ghat area of Barabanki town, claiming it to be an “illegal” construction even as Muslim bodies said that the action was against the law since the structure was an Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board property. The Waqf Board and All-India Muslim Law Board have demanded a judicial probe into the matter. The Waqf Board said the action was misuse of power in the name of anti-encroachment drive, while the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board sought suspension of the officials responsible for it.
The Barabanki administration however justified the demolition and District Magistrate Adarsha Singh claimed that the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court had disposed of a petition in this connection on April 2, proving the construction was illegal. The single-storey mosque with white walls and green doors had stood at Ram Sanehi Ghat area on the Barabanki-Ayodhya road for nearly 100 years and devotees used to offer prayers there.