At a press conference in Delhi, Shia and Sunni clerics joined hands to fight against the Uttar Pradesh Shia Waqf Board chief Wasim Rizvi for allegedly spreading hatred against the Muslim community and its educational institutions like Madrasas.
The clerics lashed out at Rizvi for labelling madrasas as a place for nurturing terrorists.
"His irresponsible remarks on Madrasas are a part of larger conspiracy to create differences between Hindus and Muslims, Shia and Sunni communities. We are filing an FIR against him," Shia cleric Syed Kalbe Jawad Naqvi said.
They have also pointed out names of dignitaries, ministers and people from different walks of life who have received accolades in India for their contribution to the society and they all have studied Madrasas.
The clerics then filed a FIR in Lodi Road Police Station. Out of many they have accused Rizvi to be involved in a 400 crore scam. Rizvi is also allegedly involved in selling off Waqf properties and other corruption cases too.
"He is a person with criminal mindset and has 15 FIRs against him in many cities of Uttar Pradesh. He is saying all these to save himself from these cases," alleged Maulana Arif Kasim, chairman of All India Imam Foundation.
"He is trying to please the RSS and the BJP by saying that our madrasas are breeding terrorists. Till today there has not been a single case where it has been proved that students have been given any kind of training in madrasas to become terrorists or go against our own country," Naqvi emphasised.
They also questioned his regular visits to Dubai and Nepal and linked it with Dawood Ibrahim. Calling him the biggest gangster, the leaders urged the prime minister to look into the matter and take strong legal action against Rizvi.
Rizvi had earlier written a letter to Prime Minister Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in which he underlined the good work that madrasas have done and how they nurtured many students that went on to become doctors, engineers and IAS officers.