BJP MLA Stops Repair of Kanpur Mosque Vandalised Last Week

New Delhi, 26 Jan 2021 [Fik/News Sources]: Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Abhijeet Singh Sanga has stopped the repair works on a mosque in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. The said mosque, in the Bithoor area of the city, was vandalized and painted with saffron colour last week. Through a tweet in Hindi he claimed that the mosque was built at the place of a temple.

On Saturday, Sanga put out a video of himself stopping the police officials from carrying out the works.

In the video clip, the SHO of local police station can be seen telling the MLA who represents Bithoor in the state Assembly that the mosque was vandalized, to which the MLA asks what proof he has that it was vandalised. He asks people around him to vouch for SHO’s claim. Everyone says no nothing has been done with the mosque.

Then, the MLA warns the SHO. “Work on it if you have guts. Let me see who has the guts to do it. Call your higher ups. Tell him that the MLA is not allowing. I’m challenging on record,” Sanga is seen as saying.

He again asks the police official if he wants to build it now. “If you want to build it now, then, we will make our arrangements for that situation… The structure, which is standing now, will also disappear,” Sanga threatens.

Qari Abdul Quddus, Qazi of the Kapur city, told Clarion India on Monday that multiple attempts have been made to occupy that mosque as there are few Muslims in that area. There are many such mosques in Bithoor which are in dilapidated condition because of the neglect of local Muslim population. This particular mosque is being targeted because it has huge land worth Rs 10-15 crore.

“On January 17, they put an idol in the mazaar (graveyard, which is situated along the mosque) and painted it with saffron in a pre-planned manner. The minaret of the mosque, which was already damaged, was vandalized. They also vandalized one of its walls. When I got to know about this, I contacted the DIG and told him that if it was not stopped, the city will burn. Then, the DIG took urgent action and the structure was saved,” said Qari Abdul Quddus.

The Qazi further said that he had also asked the police to repair the vandalized portion of the mosque. The police agreed. But, the MLA has stopped it.

Rejecting the claim of Sanga that the mosque is built on the place of a temple, Qari Abdul Quddus said: “They can make such claim on any place or mosque in the country. They are in power; they can do anything. What is the point of just claiming? Do they have any proof? They are winning it in the name of faith. If they call my house a ‘temple’, what can I do about it?”

He said he would take the matter to the court shortly. On Monday, the Qazi held a meeting with the advocates to decide about their legal fight.

On January 20, Bithoor SHO Kaushalendra Pratap Singh told Clarion India that they had filed two FIRs against unknown persons with regard to the incident of January 17 incident. Singh is the same person who is being threatened by the MLA in the video. This correspondent contacted Singh for comment on the video. He refused to say anything about it saying he is not an authorized person to talk about the incident. Senior officials will talk about it, he said.