Illegal ‘mazars’ to be removed from medical varsity premises in Lucknow

Lucknow: Days after razing several ‘mazars’ (shrine) from inside the Medical College in Bahraich town, the administration is contemplating to remove the ‘illegal’ shrines from the prestigious King George’s Medical University premises in Lucknow triggering concern among the Muslim community.

The Varsity administration on Friday pasted notices on all the shrines asking their caretakers to ‘remove’ them within 15 days failing which they will be razed.

A Varsity spokesman said that several ‘mazars’ had been removed earlier and the remaining would also be removed after following the due process in the very near future so that new construction could be started on the vacated land.

According to the sources, there were several ‘mazars’ inside the Varsity premises and all of them have been there for the past many decades. Some of the ‘mazars’ are visited by a large number of people.

Annual religious events were also held at some of the ‘mazars’ who were after famous sufi saints.

The decision to remove the ‘mazars’ came after BJP leader and UP minister Abhijat Mishra wrote a letter to chief minister Yogi Adityanath claiming that these ‘mazars’ had been built illegally and were on government land. Mishra also sought to link the ‘mazars with religious conversions and ‘love jihad’ (Muslim youthe luring Hindu girls into marriage on false pretences).

Incidentally, the issue cropped after the recent arrest of a Muslim resident doctor on charges of ‘sexually exploiting’ a Hindu nursing student allegedly on the pretext of marrying her. The matter was taken up by the saffron outfits, who dubbed it as a case of ‘love jihad’.

Preliminary investigations later revealed that the arrested resident was also in touch with some of the accused persons in last year’s Delhi blast.