How Fatehpur mausoleum became a flashpoint in less than a week

Hindustan Times

2 days ago

KANPUR In less than a week, the Fatehpur mausoleum has turned into a centre of communal confrontation after a body called the Math-Mandir Sangharsh Samiti, unheard of until last Thursday, claimed that the structure was originally a Thakurdwara temple. The controversy comes against the backdrop of a property dispute between a Thakur family and a Muslim healer. Supporters of Hindu organisations gather near an old tomb, claiming it is a temple and demanding to offer prayers, at Abu Nagar, in Fatehpur on Monday. (ANI Video Grab)
The property, measuring 10 bighas and 17 biswas, as per land records, includes within it the mausoleum of Nawab Abdus Samad.
On Monday, members of Hindu right-wing outfits allegedly vandalised the structure, seeking to offer prayers there and claiming that a temple had previously existed at the site.
The Samiti had set a deadline of August 11 to 'rightfully reclaim' the structure. The memorandum submitted to the DM to this effect carried signatures of leaders from the BJP, Hindu Mahasabha, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal.
A purported video of BJP city president Mukhlal Pal, which could not be independently verified, was in circulation on Sunday, appealing to people to gather at the site in Abu Nagar — in the heart of the city — for the 'beautification, expansion, and performance of religious rituals' at the Thakurdwara temple.
The next day, hundreds gathered at the mausoleum defying police security and stormed the structure, damaged graves, seeking to offer prayers. The mob performed rituals inside, live-streaming them on social media, and hoisted a saffron flag atop the mausoleum. As tension prevailed in the area, police contingents from several areas, including Kotwali, Radhanagar, Malwan and Husainganj, were deployed to maintain law and order.
Ten named along with 150 unnamed persons were booked for causing communal tension, according to the FIR lodged by a police sub-inspector. Those named were Dharmendra Singh (jansevak, co-convenor, Bajrang Dal, Fatehpur), Abhishek Shukla (BJP Mandal Prabhari, Haswa), Ajay Singh (BJP, Zila Panchayat member), Devnath Dhakde (former president BJP Anusuchit Jati Morcha), Vinay Tiwari (BJP municipal councillor), Pushpraj Patel (general secretary, BJP Fatehpur), Rithik Pal (former BJP municipal councillor, lawyer), Prasoon Tiwari (general secretary, BJYM), Pappu Chauhan (SP) and Manoj Trivedi, regional vice president, Hindu Mahasabha.
'It is baffling that a body (Sangharsh Samiti) born only last week created such a big issue out of a non-issue. No one had even heard of it before,' said KP Singh, a political observer in Fatehpur.
Ainul Khan, a local Muslim leader, said: 'What the right-wingers did was expected. But why did Pappu Singh Chauhan, a local SP leader, join them?.'
Chauhan, an SP aspirant from the Hussainganj Assembly seat, was suspended by the party on Tuesday, and he called SP an 'anti-Hindu party' in his resignation post suspension.
While Mukhlal Pal appeared in a separate video on Tuesday calling for peace, photographs of Chauhan with the party's top leadership continued to circulate on social media.
'Never before last week had anyone in Fatehpur heard of the mausoleum being described as a temple,' said Shadab Khan, a local municipal councillor.
The 10-bigha-plus land on which the maqbara stands was bought by Ram Naresh Singh, a former landlord, in 1970. Before that, the property — listed as a garden — was divided by a court in 1926 between the families of Vishnuman Singh, the original owner.
The records from that period already mention the mausoleum. Those familiar with the property, considered prime and coveted, said the dispute began after Ram Naresh Singh's death in 2007.
Mohammad Anees, a Muslim healer residing on the property, obtained an ex parte judgment in his favour in 2011, and within a year, the land was recorded in his name. Vijay Pratap Singh, Ram Naresh's son who lives in Kanpur, filed a restoration case in the civil court, and the legal battle continues.
'The issue is between me and Anees, and we are fighting it in court. Let the court decide, and I will abide by its verdict,' Singh said, adding that he would meet the district magistrate over the violence.
Ajay Bhadauria, a journalist in Fatehpur, said: 'Whether the structure is a temple or a mausoleum is for the archaeological department to determine. The entire game revolves around nearly 13 bighas of land linked to the so-called mausoleum. Land mafias from both communities are attempting to grab it.'
A day after the violence and vandalism, the district administration repaired the structure and the graves on Tuesday.
Security has since been upgraded to a multi-layered cordon, with senior police officers stationed at the site. SP (Fatehpur) Anoop Kumar Singh said all measures to maintain peace were in place and efforts were underway to arrest the named accused.