By Waris Ali, TwoCircles.net,
Lucknow: A mosque in Faizabad district situated nearly 100 kilometers from state capital Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh was torched by some unidentified miscreants on the night of August 19.
Ruling Samajwadi Party MLA from Ayodhya assembly seat Tej Narain Pandey alias Pawan Pandey has blamed “youths wearing saffron headscarves” behind the act.
As per reports, a mosque known as Madani masjid is situated in Haiderganj locality of Faizabad. It is adjacent to a local madarsa. On the night of August 19 it caught fire which was first noticed by passerby. They informed Maulana Badshah Khan who lives in the same compound. By the time, the whole room in the mosque was engulfed in smoke. Flames were doused with the help of local residents.
Badshah Khan later gave an application to police against unidentified person on which police had registered a case. District Magistrate Anil Dhingra and SSP Umesh Kumar Srivastava told newsmen that culprits will be identified and stern action will be taken against them. Both the officials also visited the site.
Muslims of the locality are concerned about the incident in the communally sensitive district of Faizabad. It is reported that fire tenders were called but it did not reach on time.
Locals claim that some inflammable substance filled in a bottle was thrown inside the mosque. A delegation of local Muslims had met the district administration demanding action against the culprits.
Meanwhile the incident found its echo in state assembly on Friday. Speaker Mata Prasad Pandey had allowed two hour debate on law and order in the assembly. Speaking on behalf of the government, Samajwadi Party’s Ayodhya MLA Pawan Pandey blamed BJP for inciting communal tension in the state.
“One can easily check who is inciting communal violence. Just see who has been arrested during riots,” he said. Pandey also cited Madani mosque incident. “It is in my district. Some youths who sport saffron headgear move around during night and threw pepsi bottle filled with petrol in mosque which caught fire. It is an attempt to incite communal tension in Faizabad,” Pandey said pointing towards the benches where BJP MLAs were sitting.