Former Union minister Saif-ud-Din Soz questions restrictions at Nizamuddin mosque

Govt did not take any notice when 10 million people assembled for Kumbh Mela, he said

While terming the Central government’s decision to continue restrictions at the Nizamuddin Markaz mosque in Delhi as “extreme highhandedness”, a former Union minister and senior Congress leader in Kashmir Thursday questioned the BJP over holding of Kumbh Mela and election rallies across India.

The Markaz has been closed since March 31 last year after a Tablighi Jamaat congregation took place at the venue which was blamed for thousands of coronavirus infections around the country. In February this year, the Delhi Waqf Board had filed a petition seeking permission to open the premises

On Monday the Center defended its decision to continue restrictions at the Markaz mosque with the Union home ministry informing the Delhi High Court that it was essential as the case involved “cross-border implications” and “diplomatic relations” with other countries.

Questioning the Center’s assertions in the Court, Saif-ud-Din Soz, former president of the J&K unit of Congress, suggested to the caretakers of the Markaz to take recourse to the court, immediately.

“Closing the Mosque is the extreme highhandedness of the Central as well as the Delhi government. Kindly raise the issue that the Central and Uttar Pradesh government did not take any notice of the fact that 10 million people assembled at Haridwar for Kumbh Mela (in March and April this year),” he advised Markaz caretakers in a letter.

Soz, who was Union Water Resource minister in UPA-I, also questioned how the BJP leaders continued to hold huge election rallies throughout India when the second wave of Covid-19 was sweeping the country. “Kindly also keep the democratic and secular institutions in India, informed of this development and the necessary action that the Mushawarat (caretakers) may take, in this connection,” the letter further reads.

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