The Majlis Bachao Tahreek (MBT) has strongly condemned the denial of appointment from the Raj Bhawan to submit a memorandum to Sri E S L Narasimhan, Governor of Andhra Pradesh on the occasion of 21st Anniversary of demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.
MBT leader Amjed Ullah Khan (Corporator) in a statement said that Muslim organizations have been registering their protest by submitting a memorandum to the Governor against the demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992. However, for the first time in the last 21 years, no Muslim organization was given an appointment with the Governor of Andhra Pradesh. He said that the Raj Bhawan staff did not respond to the repeated pleas made by the Muslim organizations seeking appointment with the Governor of Andhra Pradesh. However, it was only on Friday that the concerned officials of Raj Bhawan responded asking the MBT and other groups of handover their memorandum to the Principal Secretary to the Governor since Sri E S L Narasimhan himself was busy.
The MBT leader said that accepting petitions from the aggrieved parties is one of the constitutional duties of the Governor. He is the representative of the President of India and the Center and therefore, if anything has to be conveyed to the Center, people are bound to approach him. Denial of appointment in normal circumstances could be understood, but denying Muslim organizations an opportunity to register their protest on the anniversary of Babri Masjid by submitting a memorandum was like suppression of Freedom of Expression.
Amjed Ullah Khan recalled that former Governors including K Krishna Kant to Sushil Kumar Shinde used to listen to the petitioners with total patience and they used to forward their memorandums to the President of India. He said that the MBT got several acknowledgments from the Rashtrapati Bhawan on the memorandums submitted to the Governor on Babri Masjid issue. However, such healthy democratic practices appear to have been discontinued at the Andhra Pradesh Raj Bhawan nowadays. However, this time, due to denial of appointment, the pain of Muslim organizations got doubled. The Muslim community is already in pain due to demolition of Babri Masjid and the inability to register protest before the highest office of democracy in the State, the Governor, their pain got doubled.
The MBT leader said that the Muslim organizations were deeply hurt with the denial of appointment and therefore, they boycotted submitting memorandum to Governor’s Secretary at the Raj Bhawan.The MBT Party decided to forward the Petition copy directly through registered post to President of India Pranab Mukerji which was to be submitted to the Governor of Andhra Pradesh with a complaint against the Raj Bhawan Andhra Pradesh on non-issue of time for submitting a memorandum on Friday. (INN)