Row over 1857 martyrs’ memorial as BJP says minarets like mosques

The incident took place late Friday evening when Azad was overseeing the construction work of the memorial at Mohalla Rasalganj.

Tension prevailed in Aligarh after BJP workers stopped construction work at a memorial of around 70 Muslim martyrs of the first war of independence in 1857 as the building included minarets, which resembled a Muslim place of worship.

Aligarh Mayor Shakuntala Bharti and BJP’s district president Devraj Singh reached the construction site at Rasalganj along with hundreds of workers Friday evening and objected to construction of minarets, which were meant for inscription of martyrs’ names. Nominated corporator Baba Fareed Azad, who is also district spokesperson of the Samajwadi Party, is getting the memorial constructed on a municipal corporation park’s land on his own expense.

Sensing trouble, municipal commissioner Santosh Kumar Sharma stopped the construction work and also issued notices to Azad for constructing minarets without permission. Local SP MLA Zameerullah Khan, too, reached the spot and tried to convince BJP leaders that the place will not be used for religious purposes.

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The incident took place late Friday evening when Azad was overseeing the construction work of the memorial at Mohalla Rasalganj. Three minarets were erected as part of the memorial. Some BJP workers objected to the minarets saying they denote a mosque. BJP leaders including Mayor Shakuntala Bharti and BJP’s district president Devraj Singh also reached the spot.

Azad, however, claimed, that he had taken permission from Aligarh Municipal Corporation in 2013.

The three minarets, he said, will bear the names of 70 Muslim martyrs who had died fighting against the British in 1857.

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