KOZHIKODE: Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and Samastha Kerala Jam-Iyyathul Ulema have expressed concern over the court order that gave permission to offer pooja at the Gyanvapi Masjid.
IUML state president Panakkad Syed Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal and Samastha president Syed Muhammd Jiffiri Muthukoya Thangal said the Muslims should oppose the move through legal means.
Addressing the concluding function of the 35th-anniversary celebration of the Samastha Kerala Sunni Students Federation (SKSSF) here on Sunday, Sadiq Ali Thangal said every religion has its own places of worship. Indian law stipulates that only the particular religion’s rituals should be performed in the place of worship owned by the religion, he said.
“Indian Constitution has given the freedom for every religion to perform the rituals of that religion. Ritual in a place of worship should be performed according to the stipulation of the religion and not the ones followed by other religions” he said.
Sadiq Ali Thangal said a law has been passed in Parliament in 1991 during the Babri Masjid issue. The law says that a place of worship should keep the status quo as on August 15, 1947. “But now even the law has been flouted and legal protection has been given it. This has pained the minorities immensely,” he said.
Thangal said that now many claims have been raised that target the minorities with the support of the government. It is the Constitutional duty of the government to protest the minorities. But it is greatly regrettable that government is encouraging moves that hurt the minorities, he said.
The IUML leader said that fascism of this kind cannot be countered with another fascism. “We should explore the possibility of legal remedies,” he said.
In his inaugural address, Jiffiri Thangal said government and judicial systems in the country should respect the law to protect places of worship in the country. Attempts to scuttle the law by allowing poojas in the Gyanvapi Masjid should not have happened. “It is not Samastha’s way to oppose the government blindly. We will explore the legal ways. There is a Constitution and legal system in the country,” he said
Samastha general secretary K Alikutty Musaliyar, IUML national general secretary P K Kunhalikutty,. SKSSF president Panakkad Syed Hameed Ali Shihab Thangal, Syed Abbas Ali Shihab Thangal and others attended the conference.
