Senior Samajwadi Party leader and minister in the Uttar Pradesh cabinet Ompal Nehra was fired on Friday morning for a remark made on Thursday. NDTV reported that Nehra had asked Muslims to give up their claims on mosques in Ayodhya and Mathura, and join karseva (voluntary work) for the temples being built there.

He was reportedly referring to the controversy raised over the Vishwa Hindu Parishad gathering truckloads of stones to build a Ram temple at the disputed Ayodhya site, where the 16th-century Babri mosque was razed by Hindu activists in 1992.

Nehra told ANI on Friday that he had been misquoted. He claimed he had said that since the Bharatiya Janata Party has “no issue” pending in Uttar Pradesh besides the Ram temple, the matter should be “closed once and for all”.

More details to follow...