Lucknow: The minority cell of Uttar
Pradesh Congress on Friday charged the Shahi Imam of Delhi Jama
Masjid Maulana Syed Ahmed Bukhari with working as the agent of
Samajwadi Party and lashing out at the party in the context of
the Allahabad High Court's verdict in the Ayodhya title suits.
"The Shahi Imam had favoured and opposed different
political parties at different points of time in the past and
today he is working as agent of Samajwadi Party and attacking
the Congress", chairman of the Minority cell of the UPCC,
Maroof Khan said in a statement here.
Claiming that Bukhari stands exposed before the
community, Khan said that he had also sought votes in favour
of BJP's Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2004 Lok Sabha elections.
Referring to Bukhari's criticism of Congress , Khan
said that its (Congress') secular credentials did not require
Imam saheb's certificate.
Claiming that both Bukhari and Mulayam Singh Yadav
were not getting support of the community, Khan said that
this has frustrated the former "who is now resorting to
beating up journalists who pose uncomfortable questions."
Losing his cool after being asked a question related to
the Ayodhya dispute here yesterday by a local reporter, the
Shahi Imam had called him an agent of the Congress.
"It is unbecoming of a person like Bukhari to indulge
in fisticuffs at a press conference", Khan said referring to
yesterday's incident in Lucknow and demanded that journalists
should boycott Bukhari's press conferences in future.
Meanwhile, senior BJP leader Lalji Tandon also
criticised Bukhari for "misbehaving" with a scribe and said
such people needed to be socially boycotted.
PTI
First Published: Friday, October 15, 2010, 23:16