Yogi Adityanath has labelled the state waqf board as the “land mafia” and suggested it has illegally grabbed land in the Kumbh area of Allahabad and elsewhere in Uttar Pradesh, inviting accusations of tarnishing an arm of his own government.

The chief minister’s comments came days after a cleric — Maulana Shahabuddin Razvi Bareilvi, president of the All India Muslim Jamat — alleged the government had taken over 55 bighas in the Kumbh area that he said belonged to the waqf board.

“Those who have captured land in the Mahakumbh area must be forced out sooner or later,” Adityanath said while inaugurating a media centre in the Kumbh area on Thursday night, without naming Bareilvi or the waqf board.

But at another programme in the same area, he made his target clear.

“Is this a waqf board or a board of the mafia? It has become a board of the land mafia. We will take back every inch of land from them,” he said.

“We are amending the waqf rules. We are scrutinising all the revenues collected (by the board)… and will take back all the land the waqf board has encroached on. We will build houses for the poor, hospitals and educational institutions on those plots.”

A waqf board manages and protects waqf properties, which are donated by Muslims for religious or charitable purposes.

Aseem Waqar, spokesperson for the state unit of the AIMIM, said the waqf board was a state government department “and the chief minister is calling his own department the land mafia”.

“It’s his problem as chief minister if he knows there’s a land mafia in the state and he is still waiting to act against them. He can’t name a single member of the land mafia against whom any action has been taken during the seven years of his rule,” Waqar said.

Samajwadi Party MP Harendra Malik said the waqf boards were constituted by an act of Parliament and that every state government ran one.

“The Uttar Pradesh government has appointed members and officials to its own waqf board. Clearly, the state government has appointed members of the land mafia,” he said.

Name change

Adityanath’s government had renamed Allahabad, venue of the Kumbh Mela, as Prayagraj several years ago, ridding the city of its “Islamic” name.

Now, days before the Kumbh Mela starts on January 14, he has purged the Shahi Snan (Royal Bath) — the holy dip in the Ganga — and the Peshwai (the procession in which the akharas and mutts enter the Mela) of their Urdu labels.

These events will from now on be known by the Sanskrit names Amrit Snan (after the elixir of immortality) and the Nagar Pravesh (entry into the city), the chief minister announced on Thursday evening. He said these were longstanding demands from the sadhus.

“The names ‘Shahi’ and ‘Peshwai’ were given by the Mughals for their convenience,” Sri Mahant Das, a sadhu from the Nirmohi Akhara, said.

“Going by the scriptures, it was always an Amrit Snan. The Kumbh is held in Prayag, Haridwar, Ujjain and Nashik — the places where Amrit had fallen during the Samudra Manthan (churning of the ocean). It’s good we are getting rid of Mughal imprints.”

According to mythology, while the gods and the demons were fighting for the pitcherof Amrit, a few drops fell into rivers at these four places, turning their waters into Amrit, too.