Screengrab of saffron activists damaging shrines inside tomb.
Credit: X/Nargis_Bano78
Lucknow: Tension prevailed in Uttar Pradesh’s Fatehpur district after hundreds of saffron activists barged into a 200-year old ‘Maqbara’ (tomb) and damaged two ‘mazars’ (shrine) on Monday claiming it to be a temple which was ‘demolished’ by the Muslim rulers and converted into a tomb.
According to the police sources here, a large number of BJP and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) workers assembled near the tomb and, breaking the police barricades, barged into the tomb of Nawab Abdus Samad and performed ‘aarti’ and ‘puja’ there.
District BJP president Mukhlal Pal and former MLA Vikram Singh led the saffron activists. They also recited ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ inside the tomb.
Some saffron activists damaged two shrines inside the tomb with stones and sticks. A video which surfaced on social media purportedly showed some activists hitting the ‘mazars with heavy stones and lathis.
Reports said that the members of the other community, who also reached there upon getting the information to ‘confront’ the saffron activists.
Police said that a large number of security personnel were deployed in and around the tomb and barricades were put up to prevent entry there.
According to the reports, the tomb was situated in Abu Nagar area in the district. The saffron outfits claim that it was a temple, which was converted into a tomb by the Muslims.’’It is an ancient temple ... .there are symbols like trident and lotus flower inside it,’’ Pal claimed. He had earlier appealed to the members of the Hindu community to perform puja there on Monday.
Police said that they would not allow any one to change the status of the site until there was a court order or direction from the archaeological survey of India officials.