Photo: IANS
Lucknow: Muslim clerics in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday called for an impartial and thorough probe into the alleged embezzlement at the state's Shia and Sunni Waqf Boards amid the uproar over the alleged theft of donations made at Ayodhya's Ram Temple.
The responses followed Shahabuddin Razvi Bareilvi, President of the All India Muslim Jamaat Maulana, requesting an investigation into the "scams of Sunni and Shia Waqf Board" in a letter to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
Blaming the Samajwadi Party (SP) for 'compromisation' of the Waqf during its regime, Maulana Bareilvi claimed that if the investigation is done in the right direction, "a scam bigger than the Ram Mandir will come to light", IANS reported.
Backing his demand, President-Shia Markazi Chand Committee Maulana Syed Saif Abbas Naqvi said: "We have consistently demanded and we want the government to conduct an investigation of the Waqf Board because the matters in the Board are not perfect in any way."
"This is not a new demand; we have been raising it for years that irregularities are taking place in the Waqf Board. Illegal encroachments are being made on the lands there, and similarly, there are some lands that are also under the government's possession," he told IANS.
Calling for a "transparent probe" into the alleged irregularities, Abbas said: "Strict action should be taken against those found guilty and those properties which are currently in government possession, should be returned to the Waqf Board."
"But despite the government's claims of irregularities, it is not conducting a thorough probe," he remarked.
All India Shia Personal Law Board General Secretary Maulana Yasoob Abbas also supported the allegations of embezzlement at the Waqf Board.
"I have been hearing about misappropriation of funds and properties at the Waqf for a long time, irrespective of political parties in power," he told IANS.
Yasoob Abbas also sought a thorough probe into the allegations and appealed to CM Yogi to form a committee comprising retired judges and former IAS officers, "who should be handed the responsibility of running the Waqf Board".
"The current members of the Board should be shunted out," he added.
Meanwhile, in his letter addressed to CM Yogi, Maulana Shahabuddin alleged: "The illegal business of buying and selling Waqf land and property flourished during the Samajwadi Party governments and the officials responsible for both the Sunni Central Waqf Board and the Shia Waqf Board, compromised the Waqfs."