Gujarat vetoes plan to rebuild Vali tomb

A function to reconstruct the tomb of 17th century Urdu poet Vali Gujarati, destroyed in the recent violence in Gujarat, was cancelled at th...

A function to reconstruct the tomb of 17th century Urdu poet Vali Gujarati, destroyed in the recent violence in Gujarat, was cancelled at the eleventh hour today after police withdrew permission for it, the organisers said. Police, however, claimed that the organisers had called off the function.

Vali Gujarati was the first poet to have his work published in Urdu; before that, Persian was the preferred language. His grave in Shahibaug area, was vandalised by mobs during the recent riots and a built temple there. Later, that too was razed and the road levelled.

On Sunday, the All-Gujarat Minorities Association, along with the Society for Promotion of Rational Thinking (SPRAT), had planned a function to begin rebuilding the structure.

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Poets here for a mushaira on Tuesday were to bring a brick each from their towns to be used for the structure as a symbol of national participation in the rebuilding. But that was not to be.

Says association chief Usman Qureishi: ‘‘We were given permission. The area on which reconstruction was to be done was earmarked, and police protection promised. Everything changed overnight.’’

He said a police officer called him up around ‘‘2:30 in the morning’’ and informed him of it.

ACP Satish Varma said: ‘‘There is no question of police withdrawing permission when a person has a legal right on a place. The organisers themselves called off the programme….’’

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However, the organisers say that police asked people who had gathered for the function to leave.

‘‘Modi promised that restoration of damaged shrines would be taken up, but I have no information of how the promise is being kept,’’ member of the National Commission on Minorities A.M. Sethna, who was to lay the plaque for the rebuilding, said.

Meanwhile, in Hyderabad, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board charged the Modi government with misleading people on reconstruction of 280 damaged shrines and demanded that work on it be taken up soon.

The board disputed Modi’s observation that there were constitutional and legal impediments in taking up their reconstruction.