EXMLC HAJI IQBAL PERFORMS YAJNA, DRAWS FLAK

LUCKNOW: Former legislator of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Haji Iqbal has stoked a controversy by performing a yajna at a private university owned by him in Saharanpur.Some Muslim leaders termed the yajna as un-Islamic and asked him to “seek forgiveness from Allah”. Haji Iqbal owns the Glocal University in Saharanpur where a yajna was organised as part of Dhanwantari Puja on October 18.

LUCKNOW: Former legislator of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Haji Iqbal has stoked a controversy by performing a yajna at a private university owned by him in Saharanpur.

Some Muslim leaders termed the yajna as un-Islamic and asked him to “seek forgiveness from Allah”.

Haji Iqbal owns the Glocal University in Saharanpur where a yajna was organised as part of Dhanwantari Puja on October 18, a day before Diwali.

Haji Iqbal was present at the ceremony and a video of the yajna was circulated on the social media.

University sources said the yajna was held following a directive from the central government that all Ayurveda institutes should hold such a programme on Dhanvantari Day. The yajna was performed at the Ayurveda faculty of the university.

Haji is known for his rags to riches story and the enforcement directorate as well as the income tax department are investigating into his assets.

Haji was a member of the legislative council (MLC) and had also contested Behat (Saharanpur) seat in the 2017 UP assembly election.

The religious ritual created a flutter in some sections of the Muslim community. “It is un-Islamic on the part of Haji Iqbal to organise the ritual. He should seek forgiveness from Allah. Each religious has a certain code and one should not flout it,” state president of the All-India Imam Association Mufti Zulfikar told the HT. Dar-ul-Uloom Deoband, however, distanced itself from the controversy.