Lucknow: He is fast becoming the Salman Rushdie of India. Not for writing controversial books but for his alleged un-Islamic acts and utterances in the media. Wasim Rizvi, the former Chairman of UP Central Shia Waqf Board, is under fire from Muslims all over the country for filing a petition in the Supreme Court pleading for removal of 26 verses from the holy Quran.
Livid over his demand, Muslims in Lucknow took to streets outside Bara Imambara in protest. Choicest expletives were used against the erring ex-Chairman. A few Musim youth even descended on his Hayat Mazar (land for grave bought by him during lifetime) and damaged marble stones to vent their grouse against him.
Clerics from both Sunni and Shiite Muslim sects have condemned his act and issued fatwa against Rizvi asking community members to ostracize him from the community and Islam. Shia Cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawad has urged the Supreme Court to reject his petition.
Maulana Jawad has sent a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home minister Amit Shah and the State government, seeking to arrest Rizvi for blasphemy.
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