Samajwadi Party (SP) MP Dimple Yadav has been caught up in a religious controversy after she was seen at a political rally allegedly taking place inside a mosque. The function has invited criticism from Maulana Mufti Shahabuddin Razvi Bareilvi, the National President of the All India Muslim Jamaat.
Reports said the incident, which involved some top SP leaders and Dimple Yadav, occurred within the mosque premises, inviting criticism from sections of the Muslim community.
In a strong statement to IANS, Maulana Razvi stated, "Dimple Yadav should have been careful about her clothes and the sanctity of the mosque. Her visit without a dupatta was an insult to the religious sentiments of Muslims."
He pointed out that mosques are only for prayer and spiritual activity and not political activities and requested Dimple Yadav and SP leadership to tender a public apology.
Describing the incident as "shameful," the cleric also denounced SP MP Mohibullah Nadvi, who was said to have organized the meeting. "He should apologise to the community for converting a mosque into a political platform," Razvi stated.
Maulana Razvi didn't rest there—he also targeted Swami Prasad Maurya, chief of the Rashtriya Shoshit Samaj Party and former member of the SP, of repeatedly insulting Sanatan Dharma.
"He had once set ablaze a copy of Ramcharitmanas during his stint in SP. All of us, including me, had demanded his ouster, but Akhilesh Yadav declined," Razvi said.
He cited the example that Maurya later parted ways with the Samajwadi Party and formed his own political party after one year. Maurya, according to Razvi, continues to make provocative statements that erode communal harmony and hurt religious communities.
The incident within the mosque has been blown into a wider political scandal, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claiming that the SP had politicized religious spaces.
But SP leaders have denied the charges emphatically. They described the whole row as a politically driven diversion intended to deflect focus from pressing national issues.
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