Uttar Pradesh: Hindu fanatics vandalise Muslim shrine and pray inside it

Hundreds of members of the nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) stormed the ‘maqbara’ (tomb) of Nawab Abdus Samad despite police barricades. According to extremist leaders, a Hindu temple once stood on the site. Local bishops appeal for tolerance.

Fatherpur (AsiaNews) - A group of fanatical Hindu extremists stormed a Muslim shrine in the Fatehpur district of Uttar Pradesh. Claiming that the structure was actually a temple demolished by Muslims, the attackers performed Hindu rituals.

The incident took place on 11 August. Hundreds of members of the nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), led by BJP district secretary Mukhlal Pal and former MP Vikram Singh, stormed the ‘maqbara’ (tomb) of Nawab Abdus Samad despite police barricades. Some of them, armed with sticks and stones, damaged two ‘mazar’ (shrines) inside.

According to Pal, it is ‘an ancient temple, where there are symbols such as the trident and the lotus flower.’ Pal himself had previously urged members of the Hindu community to conduct religious rituals. Police authorities deployed a large number of officers to prevent further clashes, saying they would not allow anyone to change the status of the site until there was a court order or a directive from the Indian Archaeological Survey.

Mons. Louis Mascarenhas, bishop of Allahabad, told AsiaNews: ‘On the spot, they shouted the slogan “Ayodhya ki taiyyari hai, Kashi Mathura baki hai” (Ayodhya is a preview, Kashi and Mathura remain).’

Expressing sorrow and discouragement also for the attacks on Christian missionaries in Chhattisgarh and Orissa, Bishop Mascarenhas stressed that ‘we are sadly witnessing growing intolerance among the various communities. We all live as equal citizens of a free nation.’

Along the same lines, Bishop Gerald Mathias of Lucknow expressed his regret: ‘It is so unfortunate and sad that a land known for tolerance is gradually but surely turning into an intolerant society.’

The bishop denounced that ‘Hindu fundamentalists go around as vigilantes, disrupting religious services, vandalising places of worship, threatening and beating up worshippers, damaging property.’ He added that the police often ‘become silent spectators or collude with the criminals and arrest innocent people without any evidence of the charges.’

According to Bishop Mathias, this behaviour has become a ‘pattern’ that is repeated, and the perpetrators feel ‘encouraged to continue these antisocial and inhuman activities because no action is taken against them. Indeed, they seem to be protected, encouraged by the establishment or seem to have tacit permission.’

The bishop concluded with an appeal: ‘I hope and pray that common sense will prevail. May the majority community be truly kind, big-hearted, tolerant and allow everyone to have true freedom to follow the faith they have chosen, a fundamental right guaranteed by our Constitution, a human right granted to every human being by God Himself.’

• India
• Hindus
• Muslims
• vandalism