After Friday prayers were stopped in several parts of Gurgaon by Hindutva outfit, a video of the men disruptin... Read More

GURUGRAM: After Friday prayers were stopped in several parts of Gurugram by Hindutva outfit, a video of the men disrupting the prayers again in the Millennium City on April 20 hit the social media, leading to six of them being arrested on April 26.

Earlier this week, several Hindutva outfits hit the streets demanding that the FIR against the six men be scrapped and prayers be allowed only at designated places approved by the government. The local unit of VHP had also threatened to stop namaz at open spaces if the government did not act.

This Friday, a group of around 70 people, who claimed they had united under the "banner of Om", gathered at Wazirabad village and fanned out across the city in small groups. According to estimates, prayers are held in open spaces at 115 spots in the city because there aren't enough mosques for approximately six lakh Muslims in Gurugram, among them a large number of migrant workers engaged in the city's massive construction industry.

Police had prior information and threw a security cover at several locations, yet the Hindutva groups managed to disrupt prayers before being stopped and sent back. No complaint was filed and no arrest made. Police spokesperson Ravinder Kumar denied that any disruption took place. He said, "Adequate force was provided to maintain law and order and no complaint of any disruption has been received from any side."

Deputy commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh also said "adequate security arrangements were made at all spots", and that attempts to disrupt were handled effectively by the administration. "Further action as deemed fit will certainly be taken," he said.

Rajiv Jain, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar 's media adviser, told TOI , "As per information received from local authorities, some fights had taken place among locals in the past on offering prayers (namaz) on the road and some cases were also registered in this regard. I think to avoid that situation, the local authorities had taken some preventive steps of disallowing anyone from offering prayers on the roads."

Krishna Tyagi, who identified himself as a member of Nav Yuva Shakti Sangathan, spoke at the gathering in Wazirabad before the groups spread out. "Muslims are offering namaz illegally everywhere. This is causing inconvenience to people," he said.

Also present at the gathering was Sube Singh Bohra, Wazirabad village former sarpanch, who has emerged as a central figure in the opposition to namaz at open spaces. He told TOI, "If they keep offering namaz everywhere in villages, our youths can get angry and theirs can as well if we start offering havan in the open. Our objection is that the government has given them masjids (mosques), why can't they pray there?" Vijay Yadav, who said he was a member of Bharat Bachao Yatra , added, "All places where namaz is read illegally in the city should be shut. We are going to continue this in the coming weeks and will also go out of Gurugram." Bora, whose son Kuldeep is the local MCG councillor, saidhe had urged the youth not to indulge in violence.

From Wazirabad, one of the groups reached Sector 40, where a group of men had come to offer prayers on a pavement near Unitech Cyber Park. "I was in the area to meet someone and decided to stay here for namaz," said Mohammad Nazib. "Some people were doing wazu (ablution) while others were praying when around 10-12 men came there. They asked the imam to leave and then started threatening us," he said.

Those who had gathered to pray got up and walked away to avoid confrontation. Policemen posted there stood by while all this happened. It was only when the SHO arrived that the group opposing the prayers fled. On MG Road, another group repeatedly shouted "Bangladeshi waapas jao". "There are Bangladeshis and Rohingya living in the city illegally. They should be thrown out of the country," said a protester.

Shehzad Khan of the Muslim Ekta Manch said there were 5-6 lakh Muslims in Gurugram. "A number of them have come from places like Bihar , UP to work here. A number of them also travel from nearby places for work, and pray in these open spaces," he said. "What has happened today is very sad. We have been made to feel alienated in our own country. Do we have no freedom?"

