Friday, July 15 2005 18:19 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Taking exception to the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board declaring the Taj Mahal a Waqf property, senior BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi today shot off a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, questioning the very relevance of such institutions and demanded that they be disbanded.

He charged the Waqf Board with lending a religious colour to historic heritage like Taj Mahal and claiming it as Waqf property saying it was a challenge to Indian Constitution, law and order and democratic structure which "if not taken seriously, could lead to serious consequences in the coming days".

"If mosques, burial grounds and places where Namaz is offered become the criteria for Waqf property, then perhaps 90 per cent of important buildings would have to be handed over to Waqf Boards", he said in the letter, copy of which was released to the media.

"There is an imminent need to discuss the relevance and necessity in a secular country of institutions like the Waqf Boards which cannot pay their employees, maintain their assets and are mired in controversy", said Naqvi, a former Chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the functioning of Waqf Boards in the country.

He demanded that the Centre take the initiative to ensure that the glory of cultural and historical heritage of the country was not diminished by vested interests by confining them within narrow religious walls.

Later, Naqvi told reporters that the Government should seriously consider winding up Waqf Boards in the country.