Aligarh: Uttar Pradesh BJP leader Ruby Asif Khan on Wednesday alleged that she was facing threats after installing a Mata Rani idol for the upcoming festival of Navaratri. Khan, who had faced similar threats earlier this year for worshipping Lord Ganesh on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi, said on Wednesday that unknown individuals had put up posters outside her residence when she alongside her family was asleep.
The posters in question accused her of having become a 'kaffir' (disbeliever), Khan said, adding that they further made calls to burn her alive with her family. The Vice President of the BJP Women's Wing from Jai Ganj Mandal in Aligarh district also said there were several 'self-appointed leaders' of the Muslim community who she suspected were behind this act.
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"Either last night or today morning posters were put up outside my house. The neighbours woke us up around 9 am and informed about the developments. This happened previously as well, when I had put up an idol of Lord Ganesh. At that time, a fatwah had been issued against me.
This time, however, I have put up an idol of Goddess Mata Rani. They have spread misinformation about this and have noted on the posters that I will be burnt alive and ostracized as a Muslim. There are a few people in the Muslim community who consider themselves to be leaders, and are orchestrating this" she said.
The leader had previously been subjected to a fatwa by Deobandi cleric Mufti Arshad Farooqui. The latter, reasoning the move, had observed that in Islam one followed only Allah, adding that idol worship was against the tenets of the religion. Subsequently, Khan had written a letter to authorities, as well as UP CM Yogi Adityanath, seeking security cover and had carried out immersion for the Ganesh idol.
