Lucknow: Slip of tongue cost dear to BJP MLC Bukkal Nawab who had to cut short his speech at the party’s minority cell meet in Lucknow Thursday, after party workers hooted and protested when he made a comment on the Ayodhya land dispute.
Addressing the state working committee of the party’s Alpsankhyak Morcha, which was also attended by senior BJP leaders including Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Nawab said, who will go for namaz even if the mosque is built on the disputed site? Offering namaz at a disputed site is forbidden, he said.
Though he clarified that he is not opposed to a masjid, his remark triggered hooting and protests, until senior leaders intervened.
Clarifying his stand later Nawab is quoted by Indian Express as saying, “I was trying to explain issues on which we are constantly targeted. I was trying to explain in other words that even if the demand for a mosque is fulfilled, any prayers offered at the disputed site would not serve any purpose. Anyone who does so will go to hell.”
According to Inquilab, Bukkal Nawab during his speech advocated for construction of a masjid instead of the temple, on which the BJP activists present there created a ruckus and forced him to get down of the stage. Later he clarified that he was advocating for construction of the temple and not the mosque.
Bukkal Nawab was earlier with the Samajwadi Party. He had joined BJP after the 2017 Assembly elections. He was sent to the Upper House soon after.