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BJP 'creates history' by lifting ban on Muslim processions

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh has 'created history', when it lifted the 21-year-old ban on the Azadaari procession in Lucknow.

What is more, the procession was taken out peacefully as Shias and Sunnias gave a quiet burial to their long-lasting differences, and actively participated in their respective religious processions.

Over 100,000 Shias swarmed the streets of Lucknow's walled city to join the Azadaari march while thousands of Sunnis took out their much sought-after Madde-Sahaba procession amidst heavy security arrangements.

The solution to the vexed problem followed protracted negotiations initiated by the state administration between representatives of the two warring Muslim sects.

''A formal agreement was signed after three days of tripartite talks,'' said Lucknow Commissioner D D Varma. ''Even though the agreement signed by the rival leaders was purely 'interim' in nature, its significance cannot be underestimated as this is the first breakthrough in the deadlock that has prevailed for over two decades.''

Prominent among those who represented the two sides were Maulana Kalbe Jawaad Hamidul Hasan and Maulana Agha Roohi (for the Shias) and Maulana Alim Farooqi, Saghir Hussain and Fazle Alam (for the Sunnis). Principal Secretary (home) R R Shah and Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police S R Arun negotiated on behalf of the government.

Despite the settlement, the state administration remained alert. Heavy police deployments were made in the Muslim-dominated walled city to check any outbreak of violence.

''The history of the Shia-Sunni rioting dates back to 1905, followed by repeated clashes that took a toll of nearly 150 human lives over the decades,'' said DGP Arun.

Following largescale rioting between the two Muslim sects that took as many as 52 lives, the then Janata Party government banned all Muslim processions in 1977.

Though Shias have been demanding that the ban should be lifted, their movement did not pick up tempo till young Shia scholar Maulana Kalbe Jawaad took over the sect's reins from his uncle and All India Muslim Personal Law Board vice-president Maulana Kalbe Sadiq.

Pursuing higher Islamic studies in Iran, Jawaad was the first one to take up cudgels against the UP government. The move incurred then chief minister Mayawati's wrath last year, and Jawaad along with his followers were put behind bars for defying prohibitory orders.

Subsequently, Mayawati ordered the constitution of a high-level committee comprising the principal secretary (home), the director general of police and the Lucknow commissioner to find a solution to the tangle.

However, the committee made little headway during Mayawati's tenure.

Soon after the Kalyan Singh government assumed office, the Shias demand assumed significance.

With the Lok Sabha election round the corner, the BJP government decided to take a fresh look at the whole issue and pat came the solution.

''That is why I was always of the view that a solution was not difficult, if there was political will,'' said Jawaad, expressing satisfaction with the turn of events.

He only hoped that ''good sense would prevail and we would be allowed to carry out religious rites''.

Sunni Youth Federation leader Fazle Alam, too, welcomed the move, looking forward to ''more harmonious relations between the two Muslim sects''.

Varma, however, has made it clear that the agreement was valid only for Wednesday.

Special Magistrate Diwakar Tripathi, who was in charge of Wednesday's security operations considering his long experience in handling the Shia-Sunni problem, said, ''People have perhaps realised that violence does not pay and it is they who bear the brunt of curfews and other prohibitory orders.''

Meanwhile, there is much jubilation in the BJP over the smooth conduct of the processions. ''We have unnecessarily been branded as anti-Muslim,'' observed a Kalyan Singh aide. ''No other government has ever made an attempt to allow Muslims to take out their religious procession, as we have done. Let Kalyan Singh stay in office for some more time, and Muslims will be convinced that the BJP discriminates against none. Nor does it appease any community.''

RELATED REPORT:
Azadari tensions lessen, curfew lifted in Lucknow areas

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