Even as Uttar Pradesh’s senior IPS officer Suryakumar Shukla pledged to build Ram Temple in Ayodhya, Shia Waqf Board chief Waseem Rizvi said that people who’re opposing the construction of the temple should go to Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Participating in a function at the Lucknow University, Director General (Homeguard), Shukla took an oath to build the Ram Temple, along with Azam Khan, the chief of Muslim Karsewak Manch, who’d organised the program, reported News 18.
In the video that went viral on social media, the officer can be seen saying, “We, Ram Bhakts, as part of this program, take the pledge that Ram Mandir be built at the earliest. Jai Shri Ram.”
Meanwhile, the Indian Police Service Association dissociated itself from the unethical act of its officer and tweeted :
We disassociate ourselves from the act of a senior #IPS officer as shown in the video & reiterate that it is against the ethos of neutrality, fairness and uprightness that Indian Police Service stands for. pic.twitter.com/PoAxmlFBfL
— IPS Association (@IPS_Association) February 2, 2018
Defending himself, Shukla told the Indian Express, “The issue is being blown out of proportion. This was a seminar to facilitate a consensus among Hindu and Muslim communities over the issue of the Ram temple. The Supreme Court, too, has directed that a solution be found through discussions. This event was an effort by some Muslims and I had gone there after being invited as I felt it was a good move. I do not find anything wrong with being part of the programme.”
On the other hand, after offering Friday prayers at the disputed land in Ayodhya, News 18 quoted Waseem Rizvi, the chief of UP Shia Waqf Board as saying:
“Those who are opposing the Ram Janmabhoomi temple in Ayodhya and want to build the Babri Mosque there… people having such fundamentalist mentality should go to Pakistan and Bangladesh. Such Muslims do not have any place in India (sic)…Those who want to spread Jehad in the name of the mosque must go and join the forces of Abu Baqr Baghdadi, the ISIS chief in Syria.”
Waseem Rizvi (Source: ANI )
The report further states that Rizvi’s controversial statement has irked other clerics. Maulana Iftekhar Hussain Inquilabi, president, Shia Ulema Council told the PTI about Rizvi’s earlier involvement in illegal land grabbing and selling of Waqf properties.
“He has been chargesheeted by the CB-CID and to save himself from the claws of the law he is enacting a big drama. During the rule of the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, he was patronised by Mulayam Singh Yadav and then minister Azam Khan. Now, during the BJP government, he wants to be spared,” he added
Intensifying the already aggravated communal atmosphere in the state, these developments come ahead of the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmbhoomi hearing that is scheduled for February 8 in the Supreme Court. The bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Mishra and Justices Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer adjourned the case on December 5 last year.
