A Muslim cleric in Bareilly has urged the community not to celebrate Eid in solidarity with a “large number of our children who have been killed” by the Yogi Adityanath-led government in Uttar Pradesh in the last few years.
“This year, it would be the Eid of mourning. Don’t wear new clothes, don’t buy new things and don’t decorate your houses and marketplaces. A large number of our children have been killed in the last few years. Their family members are sad, and we should express our solidarity with them. We should mourn Eid this year along with those who are mourning for their losses,” Maulana Tauqeer Raza, the head of the Ittehad-e-Millat Council, a socio-religious organisation, told reporters in Bareilly on Sunday.
Though Raza said he was speaking for all those who had been “victimised” by the state government, he had earlier claimed that the majority of youths killed in police encounters since Adityanath became the chief minister in 2017 were Muslims.
The police have shot dead over 100 alleged gangsters or criminals, both Hindus and Muslims, in encounters since 2017.
“The youths who were killed in Sambhal were our own children. They were gunned down by the police without any reason. How can we celebrate Eid?” Raza added.
Four Muslim youths were killed outside the Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal on November 24 last year in a mob-police clash that had broken out during a court-ordered survey of the mosque to ascertain whether it stood over the remains of a destroyed temple.
Zafar Ali, the head of the mosque management committee, and several eyewitnesses had alleged that the four youths had died in police firing, but the police have claimed the deaths resulted from a gunfight between two rival groups within the mob.
Reacting to Raza’s appeal to the Muslims, BJP state president Bhupendra Chaudhary claimed that the cleric was associated with the anti-BJP camp.
“The Samajwadi Party and the Congress want to create fear in the minds of the Muslims. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Yogi Adityanath work for every caste and religion. People should celebrate Eid with fanfare and ignore Raza’s appeal,” he said.
