Communal Tensions In Bareilly Rise As Muslim Cleric Tauqeer Raza Calls For ‘Jail Bharo’ In Gynavapi Case

After Muslim cleric Tauqeer Raza was arrested by the police on Friday for calling for a “jail bharo” in response to the latest developments in the Gyanvapi issue, stones were thrown in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh. Tauqeer Raza, the leader of Ittehad-e-Millat Council, urged his supporters to demonstrate against “oppression against Muslims in the country” on Thursday by going out into the streets and risking arrest by the police. The ‘jail bharo’ march led by Tauqeer Raza happened on Friday before the afternoon namaz. Tauqeer Raza also took a strike at the Madrasa in Haldwani being bulldozed, citing it as the reason behind a communal unrest in the Uttarakhand town near Bareilly.

Tauqeer Raza was released shortly after

Prior to the Tauqeer Raza’s Jail Bharo Aandolan, police was on high alert. According to Additional SP (city) Rahul Bhati, every mosque in Bareilly has special arrangements made, and there are about 1,000 police officers stationed there.
“We will not tolerate any bulldozer action any more. If the Supreme Court cannot take care of us, we will take care of us. Now I am going to offer namaz. After that I will offer to be arrested,” Tauqueer Raza said ahead of jail bharo andolan.

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Puja in Gyanvapi Masjid

In a historic decision on January 31, the Varanasi court permitted Hindus to pray in the Gyanvapi mosque’s Vyas ji ka tahkhana. The Muslim side has filed a lawsuit to stop it, but Yogi Adityanath, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, stated in a recent speech to the assembly that temples will be erected in Kashi and Mathura because they are two of the three centers of Hinduism, along with Ayodhya.

Police swiftly responded to the jail bharo call and cordoned off the Islamia College property where Tauqeer Raza had instructed his followers to assemble. Even so, thousands of supporters gathered close to the ground, and it took the administration two hours to convince them to go back to their houses. The founder of the Barelvi sect of Sunni Islam, Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi, is directly descended from Maulana Tauqeer Raza, a Barelvi cleric.