Author: A. M. Jigeesh
Publication: India Today
Date: October 8, 2010
URL: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/115540/India/cong-muzzling-the-muslims-says-shahi-imam.html
The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB)
is yet to take a final decision on filing an appeal in the Supreme Court against
the Ayodhya verdict delivered by the Allahabad High Court.
But a section of the Muslim leaders alleged
on Thursday that Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh was putting pressure
on some board members and clerics to keep mum on the judgment.
At a meeting of maulvis and representatives
of ulemas, Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid Syed Ahmed Bukhari claimed that the Congress
was backing communal forces on the issue.
Bukhari said Singh had asked senior Muslim
clerics and AIMPLB members that no stand should be taken against the Ayodhya
verdict.
"Ahead of the verdict, Singh camped in
Lucknow. He met many leaders of the community, including AIMPLB members. Many
of them later told me that he was putting pressure on them to keep silent
on the Ayodhya verdict," Bukhari said after the meeting.
However, the Congress denied the allegation,
with Singh himself saying: "I completely deny this." Bukhari said
the judges who delivered the verdict were under pressure from the government
and the Congress. "The Congress is playing the Hindu card. There was
pressure on the judges," Bukhari told mediapersons.
The Muslim leaders also urged the UPA government
to make its stand clear on the verdict. The convention resolved that there
was no question of giving away a portion of the mosque. "Under the Islamic
law, giving away of the mosque, its forcible occupation or partition is haraam
(illegal)," the participants at the meeting concluded.
The convention was organised a day after Samajwadi
Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav met Bukhari on the issue.
Mulayam had urged Bukhari to formulate a "joint
strategy" against the verdict.
Unsurprisingly, Bukhari was all praise for
Mulayam. "More secular parties should adopt the position taken by Mulayam
Singh Yadav. He understands the Muslim sentiment. As many as 95% of Muslims
are against the verdict," Bukhari said.
Interestingly, BSP leader and Lok Sabha MP
Shafique-ur-Rehman Barq also attended the convention. Barq said he would apprise
UP chief minister Mayawati about the concerns of the Muslims on the verdict.
"I attended the convention not as a BSP leader but as a person concerned
with the issues of Muslims. The verdict has to be condemned as it is against
secularism. I am sure the BSP leadership will soon take a stand on the issue,"
Barq said.
The BSP has not criticised the judgment so
far. Maulvis from Deoband, Kachhochha Sharif, Bareilly, Kolkata, Ranchi and
Delhi took part in the meet.
