Not allowing opposition leaders to visit any place amounted to crushing democracy, said UP Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu
Clarion India
BARABANKI — The Uttar Pradesh Police on Thursday stopped a Congress delegation at Chaupala in Barabanki district from going ahead to see the mosque that was razed in Ram Sanehi Ghat Tehsil by the authorities on Monday.
The delegation led by UPCC chief Ajay Kumar Lallu, former MP P.L. Punia and media chairperson Naseemuddin Siddiqui and other party leaders was forced to return after heated discussions with the police.
Ajay Kumar Lallu told reporters that not allowing opposition leaders to visit any place amounted to crushing democracy.
“The Congress will continue to fight against such repressive policies of the state government and will not tolerate this kind of dictatorship,” he said.
Authorities in Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki district razed a mosque on Monday ignoring an order of the Allahabad High Court that it should be protected from any eviction or demolition.
The UP Sunni Central Waqf Board on Tuesday termed the demolition of the mosque “a misuse of power”.
In a statement, its Chairman, Zufar Farooqui, said that the mosque was registered with it, and it will go to court against the action.
The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has also demanded from the government to rebuild the mosque that was pulled down by the district administration of Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh on Monday.
“The century-old Garib Nawaz mosque in Ram Sanehi Ghat Tehsil was demolished by the administration without any legal justification on Monday night in the presence of police,” said the AIMPLB working general secretary Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rehmani, in a statement on Tuesday.
Now it is the duty of the government to construct the mosque at the same place and hand it over to Muslims, said Maulana Rahmani.
(With inputs from IANS)
