Lucknow, Jul 18 (IANS): The management of the Lulu Mall in Lucknow has strongly denied the allegation that workers of only one community were being employed there.

Jai Kumar Gangadhar, regional director of Lulu India Shopping Mall Pvt, said in a statement that "Consumer is paramount for us. Our establishment does business within the limits prescribed under the rules of the government. Whatever workers we have here, they are not kept in the name of caste, creed, religion, but on the basis of their efficiency."

He further said that, "All the workers we have here are local, from Uttar Pradesh and the country, out of which more than 80 per cent are Hindus and the rest are Muslims, Christians and people from other sections. We have learnt that some vested interests have been trying to target our establishment by making such allegations."

The Lulu Mall, which opened on July 10, became a centre of controversy when some unidentified persons were caught on camera offering namaz inside the mall.

Right wing activists responded by threatening to recite the 'SundarKand' and Hanuman Chalisa inside the mall.

Twenty persons were arrested for raising slogans in the malls and security has been beefed up in and around the mall.

A Hindu leader Shishir Chaturvedi alleged that the Lulu Mall was encouraging love jihad by employing Muslim youth in large numbers and employing only Hindu girls.