LU students protest ‘illegal construction’ around ASI-protected Lal Baradari
LU students protest ‘illegal construction’ around ASI-protected Lal Baradari
M.U.H
23/02/202636
The protest, led by members of the Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha and the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), also raised concerns about access for Muslim students and community members who offer prayers at a mosque, claimed to have been built inside the over 200-year-old Lal Baradari, during Ramzan.
“The gate where our Muslim brothers come to offer prayers has been locked and sealed. The religious beliefs of students are being violated, which is against the spirit of the Constitution and democracy,” said Vishal Singh of NSUI.
Protester Prem Prakash Yadav alleged that the new construction and fencing around the monument was closing it from all sides, leaving the Muslim community with no place to offer prayers during the holy month.
The Lucknow University administration, however, said the Lal Baradari building is damaged and unsafe, and that entry and other activities have been prohibited. A hoarding bearing the name of Registrar Bhavana Mishra states the same.
The registrar also wrote to the Hasanganj police station in charge, requesting police deployment near Lal Baradari on February 20 to prevent any untoward incident. In a separate letter to the superintendent of the university’s works department, she cited the building’s dilapidated condition and directed authorities to carry out cleaning and install fencing around it on orders of Vice Chancellor Prof JP Saini.
The Lal Baradari, built around 1820 by Nawab Ghazi-ud-Din Haider Shah, ruler of Awadh, sits within what was once the royal garden of Badshah Bagh, now the Lucknow University campus. The rectangular structure, built with lakhauri bricks and carved sandstone pillars, is believed to have served as a rest house for women of the royal family. A canal runs beneath it, once used by the Nawabs for passage.
Heritage enthusiasts and student groups have long urged the university to restore the crumbling structure before it meets the fate of the outer gate of Sibtainabad Imambada, which collapsed in April 2020.
