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After protest against namaaz by Hindutva group, Muslims in Gurgaon grow anxious as Friday draws near
“When did it become an offence to pray in the open?” asked Hafeez Junaid before he kick-started his motorbike and zoomed off in the direction of the market in Gurgaon’s DFL Phase 5 on Tuesday. The 30-year-old was in a hurry. His friends were waiting for him and he had an urgent message for them – this week, Friday prayers were unlikely to be held at the usual spot in Sector 53.
This was because of what had happened on April 20 and after. As around 500 Muslim men had gathered for namaaz in a field owned by the Haryana government in Sector 53, several Hindu residents from the neighbouring villages of Wazirabad and Kanhai disrupted their prayers, shouting “Jai Sri Ram”. A video of the incident had later surfaced on social media, following which six persons were arrested for hurting religious sentiments. They were later released on bail.
Then, on Monday, a Gurgaon-based Hindutva group called the Sanyukt Hindu Sangharsh Samiti protested outside the district collector’s office demanding that the authorities put a stop to prayers organised by Muslims in open spaces in the vicinity of Hindu-dominated neighbourhoods. The Samiti is an umbrella body of the local units of 12 Right-wing groups including the Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Shiv Sena, Hindu Jagran Manch, Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Kranti Dal, Swadeshi Jagran Manch, Bharat Bachao Abhiyan and Gurugram Sanskritik Gaurav Samiti, according to its members.
“We have two problems here,” said Rajeev Mittal, national coordinator of the Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Kranti Dal. “First is that Muslims encroach government lands by this method. And second, the Hindu boys had been arrested for fighting for their religious rights.”
Subeh Singh Vohra, a former sarpanch, participated in Monday’s protest as a representative of the two villages from where the six men were arrested. All of the other protestors came from elsewhere in Gurgaon. “The boys from the village went to stop the namaaz in the open ground because they felt something wrong was happening,” said Vohra, who is in his 60s. “They did nothing wrong. It is the Muslims who are in the wrong. Why should they pray in an open ground when they have mosques for that?”
“When did it become an offence to pray in the open?” asked Hafeez Junaid before he kick-started his motorbike and zoomed off in the direction of the market in Gurgaon’s DFL Phase 5 on Tuesday. The 30-year-old was in a hurry. His friends were waiting for him and he had an urgent message for them – this week, Friday prayers were unlikely to be held at the usual spot in Sector 53.
This was because of what had happened on April 20 and after. As around 500 Muslim men had gathered for namaaz in a field owned by the Haryana government in Sector 53, several Hindu residents from the neighbouring villages of Wazirabad and Kanhai disrupted their prayers, shouting “Jai Sri Ram”. A video of the incident had later surfaced on social media, following which six persons were arrested for hurting religious sentiments. They were later released on bail.
Then, on Monday, a Gurgaon-based Hindutva group called the Sanyukt Hindu Sangharsh Samiti protested outside the district collector’s office demanding that the authorities put a stop to prayers organised by Muslims in open spaces in the vicinity of Hindu-dominated neighbourhoods. The Samiti is an umbrella body of the local units of 12 Right-wing groups including the Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Shiv Sena, Hindu Jagran Manch, Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Kranti Dal, Swadeshi Jagran Manch, Bharat Bachao Abhiyan and Gurugram Sanskritik Gaurav Samiti, according to its members.
“We have two problems here,” said Rajeev Mittal, national coordinator of the Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Kranti Dal. “First is that Muslims encroach government lands by this method. And second, the Hindu boys had been arrested for fighting for their religious rights.”
Subeh Singh Vohra, a former sarpanch, participated in Monday’s protest as a representative of the two villages from where the six men were arrested. All of the other protestors came from elsewhere in Gurgaon. “The boys from the village went to stop the namaaz in the open ground because they felt something wrong was happening,” said Vohra, who is in his 60s. “They did nothing wrong. It is the Muslims who are in the wrong. Why should they pray in an open ground when they have mosques for that?”
