Members of right-wing organisations fan out across Gurugram, prevent people from offering Friday prayers

Continuing their protest against the offering of namaz in open spaces, members of right-wing organisations, in the presence of police, allegedly disrupted Muslim devotees from offering prayers at around four places across Gurugram on Friday.

Muslim organisations, however, claimed that devotees were prevented from offering namaz at six places.

No Muslim devotee turned up at the Sector 53 ground near Wazirabad village on Friday for offering of namaz, following a dispute with right-wing organisations last month. Six people were arrested in the incident for allegedly disrupting namaz, but later got bail.

The members of the outfits gathered at Sai Temple around noon and then allegedly drove to different places in the city where namaz was being offered in open spaces.

“Our activists prevented the offering of namaz near Sahara Mall, Atul Kataria Chowk, IMT Manesar and Sector 40,” said Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Kranti Dal national in-charge Rajiv Mittal.

‘Will continue protest’

Shiv Sena’s Gurugram president Gautam Saini told The Hindu that the protests against offering of namaz in open spaces would continue till the practice ended.

“We will do it every Friday. Even if we need to continue it for a couple of years, we will do it. They can offer namaz on public land only after permission. We also demand that their identities be verified. They could be Rohingyas or Bangladeshis,” Mr. Saini said.

He added that a joint meeting of all right-wing organisations will be held on Sunday under the banner of ‘Sanyukt Hindu Sangharsh Samiti’ to chalk out future strategy.

Told to secure properties

Deputy Commissioner (Gurugram) Vinay Pratap Singh said: “Adequate security arrangements were made at all spots and attempts at disruption were handled effectively. The Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA), the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram and the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC), on whose public lands prayers are being offered, have been asked to secure their property within reasonable time. The Waqf Board has been asked to identify its properties where prayers can be offered.”

Waqf Board’s Estate Officer (Gurugram) Jamaluddin, however, denied having received any such directions from the district administration. “Most of the Waf Board properties in Gurugram are either acquired by the government or under litigation. We have plots for building mosques at some places, but the locals are opposing it,” said Mr. Jamaluddin.

The chairman of the Wajid Khan Nehru Yuva Sangathan Welfare Society, Hazid Shahzad Khan, on whose complaint a case was registered in the Sector 53 case, said that Muslim devotees had agreed not to perform Friday prayers at three places: Sector 53 ground, Sikanderpur metro station and Atul Kataria Chowk.

The decision was taken after a meeting with the Gurugram Commissioner of Police on Thursday in view of disruption to traffic. Mr. Khan, however, said that devotees were stopped from offering prayers at six other places on Friday.

“Those opposing namaz abused devotees near Sahara Mall. The mobile phone of one of the devotees was snatched in the presence of the police when he tried to record it. Similarly, namaz was disrupted at IFFCO Chowk, Bakhtawar Chowk and three places near Unitech Cyber Park,” said Mr. Khan.

‘Did not call police’

Mohammad Akhtar, an employee of a company at Unitech Cyber Park, said that two groups of young men accosted them around noon and stopped them from offering namaz. “We did not even make a call to the Police Control Room as we have no expectations from the administration,” said Mr. Akhtar.

Gurugram police spokesperson Ravinder Kumar said that the police had not objected to the offering of namaz at any of the places and there were no formal complaints of disruption. He, however, said that a list of places where namaz is offered in the open was prepared by the department.

Former Haryana Transport Minister Aftab Ahmed accused the BJP government of running away from its constitutional obligation and supporting right-wing organisations. “If Muslims cannot offer prayer for an hour once in a week, what else can be expected from the government,” asked Mr. Ahmed.