Step towards normalcy: Harmony at first Friday prayers after clashes, demolition in Delhi's Jahangirpuri

The stretch between Kushal Chowk and the Kali temple was on Friday open only for Muslim residents of the area who wanted to offer prayers at the mosque.

Friday prayers in northwest Delhi’s Jahangirpuri went off peacefully, as residents of the violence-torn area tried to piece back their lives, two days after an “anti-encroachment demolition” by the civic bodies left several without work.

Roughly 1,500 personnel from the Delhi Police, CAPF, CRPF and RAF continue to keep guard in the area. (PTI)

For 40 years, 62-year-old Sudhir Singh has received his childhood friend Suleiman Khan from the gate of the Jahangirpuri Jama Masjid, in front of which clashes broke out during a Hanuman Jayanti procession last Saturday. That changed this Friday.

“It’s the first time in the last 40-odd years that I have received Khan Bhai after the Friday namaz during Ramzan from a place other than the Masjid. We met at Kushal Chowk, because the area around the masjid has been cordoned off by the police after April 16,” Singh said.

Khan, meanwhile, said he hoped friendships would endure in the first of the tensions that have gripped the area for a week now. Friday prayers were held inside Jama Masjid itself.

The stretch between Kushal Chowk and the Kali temple was on Friday open only for Muslim residents of the area who wanted to offer prayers at the mosque.

Roughly 1,500 personnel from the Delhi Police, CAPF, CRPF and RAF continue to keep guard in the area.

A tense calm prevailed over the area on Friday, with civic bodies having cleaned up the streets and gotten rid of most debris from Wednesday’s action.

“God has created human beings without any discrimination. Both of us have not forgotten how we sold fruits and vegetables on the streets. It is our honest work and faith in God that our children are well settled in their businesses. Singh’s family is my second home. It’s a tradition of his family that they gift us new clothes during Dusshera,” he said.

“Jahangirpuri houses thousands of migrant workers from Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha. Most are fighting to feed their families. Anybody, who has seen hunger from very close, will never take part in such incidents. Whoever tore apart the communal fabric of our locality must be punished severely,” said Khan.

At least 20 people who were witness to last Saturday’s clashes said it was a spontaneous brawl that was escalated by miscreants.

A 28-year-old man who works at a cellphone repair shop near the mosque said the violence and subsequent demolitions had brought their lives to a halt.

“We have nothing to do with the violence. We have always believed in harmony,” he said.

Usha Rangnani, the DCP (northwest), said life has come back on track for residents of Jahangirpuri. “We have cordoned the area off as a preventive measure. We’ve also installed many CCTV cameras at Kushal Chowk and its adjoining areas. It’ll help us in tracking the movements of hoodlums,” she said and added that people of both the communities have hugged each other after the Friday namaaz.