Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 10, 2008
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Online edition of India's National Newspaper Saturday, May 10, 2008 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version |
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Tamil Nadu
strong protest: TMMK volunteers taking out a rally during their “worship agitation” in Vellore on Friday. VELLORE: Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam volunteers, including its State president M.H. Jawahirullah, were arrested in front of the fort in Officers’ Line here on Friday when they tried to defy the ban imposed by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and enter the fort to offer worship in the mosque inside. Mr. Jawahirullah had announced that the TMMK would mobilise its members from all over Vellore district to “capture” the nearly two centuries-old mosque inside the fort and offer namaaz on May 9 if the ASI did not throw open the mosque for worship before April 30. The ASI stuck to its stand that it could not grant the permission as the mosque was not being used for worship when the fort was declared a monument in 1921. About 7,000 volunteers from different districts congregated here on Friday for the “worship agitation.” The procession, which started from Bangalore Road and the Old Bypass Road junction at 11.45 a.m. reached the junction of Officers’ Line and Bangalore Road by noon. Despite the presence of a posse of policemen, the volunteers surged ahead towards the fort. They were stopped in front of the old bus stand. Mr. Jawahirullah appealed to the volunteers to maintain discipline and perform namaaz on the main since the police had denied permission to enter the fort. He claimed that worship was going on in the mosque ever since it was built in 1750. The fort was a symbol of India’s secularism since it had the Jalakanteswarar Temple, St. John’s Church and the mosque. Mr. Jawahirullah said the condition of the fort today was not the same as it was in 1921, since several government buildings had been allowed to be built by the ASI inside the fort. “We have been forced to fight on the streets since all our democratic pleas for worship were turned down. This agitation is only a rehearsal. The time for worship in the fort mosque is not far off”, he said. N. Arivuselvam, SP, Vellore district, told The Hindu that 2500 persons were arrested. All of them were released in the evening.
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