Other States - Gujarat   

Cong., BJP trade charges on mosque demolition

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JULY 5. The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party today traded charges, with each holding the other responsible for the demolition of the century-old Madni mosque within the jurisdiction of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) in Gujarat.

While the Congress said the mosque had been demolished under instructions from the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, as part of his effort to "stoke the fires of communal divide in the State till the Assembly elections,'' the BJP said the State Government was in no way connected with the incident.

Briefing mediapersons, the Congress spokesman, S. Jaipal Reddy, said the "devilish hurry'' with which the mosque had been demolished "behind the back of the elected body of AMC'' revealed that the BJP was "unrepentant'' in its pursuit of divisive politics.

Though the AMC is now controlled by the Congress, Mr. Reddy categorically denied that the decision to demolish the mosque was that of the civic body. "The Municipal Commissioner, under the AMC Act, has the powers to act independently of the elected body. He did so under the instructions of the State Government.''

Further, according to the Congress, this was the second time that the State administration had acted in a "partisan" manner vis-a-vis a place of worship since the communal violence. The administration, he said, had withdrawn permission to reconstruct the Mazhar of the eminent Gujarati poet, Wali Gujarati, which had been demolished during the violence.

On the resignation of 19 party corporators from various committees in protest against the demolition of the mosque, Mr. Reddy said they had resigned to protest the arbitrary decision of the Modi Government.

However, the BJP spokesman, Arun Jaitley, said the resignation of the corporators was an internal matter of the Congress, which was in control of the municipal corporation. "Some of them are holding key positions like Mayor and chairman of the standing committee. Some have resigned in protest against the demolition of the mosque. This is an internal matter of the Congress.''

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Other States

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• 2 killed in Gujarat
• Cong., BJP trade charges on mosque demolition

Copyright © 2002, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu