UP Muslim ministers urged to quit

The Dargah-e-Alahazrat, a prestigious Muslim institution in Bareilly district, has asked all Muslim ministers in the Akhilesh Yadav government to put in their papers following the Muzaffarnagar riots. “The Muslim ministers in the SP government have remained toothless bystanders on the Muzaffarnagar issue and not even one Muslim minister could gather the courage to put across our views to the state government. Such ministers do not have the right to continue in their posts and should resign immediately,” said Maulana Ahsan Raza Khan Qadri, the Nayab Sajjadanasheen of the dargah, while addressing a meeting recently. The Dargah-e-Alahazrat had invited senior Muslim clerics for a Tahaffuz-e-Sunniyat meeting to discuss the Muzaffarnagar riots and its fallout. The maulana said that only a probe by the CBI or an investigation held directly under the supervision of the Supreme Court would help reveal the truth behind the riots. Senior cleric Maulana Amir Raza said while speaking at the meeting that the riots had been orchestrated by political parties for the sake of polarising voters. “These ministers pretend to be concerned about our welfare and our rights only when elections are round the corner. They never turn up when the community is facing a crisis,” the cleric said. Another Muslim cleric, Maulana Asif Miyan, said that the charm of the red beacon on their cars had made the Muslim ministers to remain mum during the entire riots. “Such an attitude is unacceptable to us,” the cleric asserted. Clerics from Bihar, West Bengal as well as those from Uttarakhand and western UP participated in the event in large numbers. The mood at the meeting clearly shows the hostility that the Muslims now have for the ruling Samajwadi Party. The absence of SP ministers from Muzaffarnagar during and after the riots has further irked the community that now claims it will not support the Samajwadi Party. Meanwhile, majority of the Muslim ministers in the SP government refused to comment on the issue.