Now, ‘family of Babar’ lays claim to Babri Masjid; says will move to Court

By Siddhant Mohan, TwoCircles.net

The issue of Ram Janmabhoomi and Babri Masjid took a dramatic turn on Tuesday when Prince Yaqoob Habeebuddin Tucy, a descendant of Bahadur Shah Zafar, carried out a press conference in Lucknow and declared himself as the owner of Babri mosque.

The reason behind Tucy’s remark lies on his claim that he belonged to Babar’s dynasty and is directly related to Bahadur Shah Zafar. In 2005, he had claimed that the Taj Mahal belonged to him too. While speaking to the reporter for the story on the claim for Taj Mahal, he introduced himself as “the second son of Yaqub Arifuddin Tucy, who in turn is the son of Laila Ummani, “a great-granddaughter of Bahadur Shah Zafar, who had 49 sons and daughters. Thereby, I’m the great-great grandson of Bahadur Shah Zafar.”

Yaqoob asked the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board – which is one of the parties in the case – to include his name as the one. Earlier, he met Chaudhary Lakshmi Narayan, the waqf minister of UP, for the same where he was asked to contact the Sunni Waqf Board.

However, Sunni Waqf Board has apparently denied his request to include him as one of the parties. Due to this, Prince Yaqoob, as he claimed, will move to the court.

Yaqoob, who dressed dramatically as a member of the royal family of Mughals, also showed a DNA report in support of his claim of the royal dynasty. However, it is too early to rely on the authenticity of DNA report.

Moreover, Yaqoob also condemned Shia Waqf Board’s intervention in Babri Masjid matter saying that the body can make no claim on the mosque.

The Ram Janmbhoomi – Babri Masjid matter hit headlines once again after the Supreme Court said it will listen to the matter. Alongside this legal development, several bodies tried to step up to make their claim on the Babri Masjid, including the Shia Waqf Board.

Spiritual leader Sri Ravishankar proposed to mediate in the matter on Saturday after which Waseem Rizvi, the chairman of Shia Waqf Board, landed in Bengaluru on Tuesday to meet Ravishankar, apparently without any prior notice or invitation.

Interestingly, Ravishankar’s proposal to mediate in the matter has also been welcomed by Tucy, saying that he has already met Ravishankar on the matter.

What both the Shia Waqf Board and Tucy cannot answer convincingly is why they chose to stay silent on the matter until now.