Clerics lodge FIR against UP Shia Board chairman
Rizvi has defamed madarsas by saying that they breed terror
LUCKNOW: Shia and Sunni clerics have lodged an FIR against Uttar Pradesh Shia Central Waqf Board chairman on Wednesday for allegedly spreading hatred against the Muslim community and its educational institutions.
LUCKNOW: Shia and Sunni clerics have lodged an FIR against Uttar Pradesh Shia Central Waqf Board chairman on Wednesday for allegedly spreading hatred against the Muslim community and its educational institutions.
While the clerics have threatened to launch an agitation if the government doesn’t take any action in the matter, the Islamic Madarsa Modernisation Teachers’ Association has sought Rs 2 lakh as damages per teacher from Wasim Rizvi for defaming them.
The association, which claims there are 25,550 madarsa teachers, has given the Shia board chief 15 days to pay up or else they would move the court. Shoeb Ahmad and Shariq Khan, two ex-corporators of Lucknow Municipal Corporation, too have petitioned chief minister Yogi Adityanath seeking Rizvi’s removal as chairman of the Shia Waqf Board. The duo said they would be compelled to take to streets if the authorities did not take any action against Rizvi.
Meanwhile, Shia cleric Maulana
Kalbe Jawad lodged an FIR against Rizvi for his derogatory remarks on madarsas.
“The remarks of Rizvi are patently false and have been deliberately and dishonestly made as part of a conspiracy. This is part of a larger conspiracy to create a rift and animosity between the Hindus and the Muslims and also between the Shia and the Sunni communities. We are filing an FIR against him,” Naqvi said at a press conference in New Delhi, according to PTI. The clerics then went to the Lodhi Road police station and filed the FIR.
Rizvi had earlier written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Yogi Adityanath in which he said, “How many madrasas have produced engineers, doctors, IAS officers? Yes, but some madrasas have produced terrorists.” The clerics also accused Rizvi of being involved in selling off Waqf properties and other corruption cases. “He is a person with criminal bend of mind and has many FIRs against him in Lucknow, Saharanpur, Meerut and many other cities of Uttar Pradesh. He is saying all these to save himself from these cases,” alleged Maulana Arif Kasim, chairman of All India Imam Foundation.
“He is trying to please the RSS and the BJP by saying that our madrassas are breeding terrorists. Till today there has not been a single case where it has been proved that students have been given any kind of training in madrasas to become terrorists or go against our own country,” Naqvi emphasised.
The leaders urged the prime minister to look into the matter and take strong legal action against Rizvi.