Right-wing groups disrupt namaz again

The police intervened after tempers ran high and both sides resorted to sloganeering. The Muslims finally left after the police asked them to find an alternative place to pray.

Right-wing groups disrupted namaz at two parks in Udyog Vihar and a site in Sector 22 on Friday, even as Muslims performed prayers at five other public sites, on the first Friday after the Gurugram administration withdrew permission to perform prayers on 20 sites where they were previously allowed. No new sites have been designated since.

Namaz underway at an Udyog Vihar park on Friday. (Parveen Kumar/HT)

According to eyewitnesses and police officers deployed in Udyog Vihar, Muslims started gathering in groups at the two parks there as well as in Sector 22 on Friday afternoon even as people from right-wing outfits reached there and asked Muslims to leave. The police intervened after tempers ran high and both sides resorted to sloganeering. The Muslims finally left after the police asked them to find an alternative place to pray.

Meanwhile, namaz was performed peacefully at sites in Sector 29, Sector 44, Sector 22, Sector 56 and Badshahpur as Hindu groups did not turn up at these places to create disruptions. Right-wing leaders later said they were focusing on other sites and could not reach these places.

District administration officials would only confirm that there was an “incident” in Udyog Vihar, but added that there was no law and order situation anywhere in the city.

Mohammad Adeeb, a former Rajya Sabha member and a Gurugram resident, on Wednesday filed a contempt petition before the Supreme Court against Haryana chief secretary and the director general of police for not complying with a 2018 order of the apex court in which the court laid down guidelines to prevent mob vigilantism of the kind that Gurugram has been seeing every Friday.

The court, however, is yet to take cognizance of the plea.

Hindu groups have been protesting against Friday namaz in public spaces in Gurugram for the past three years. In 2018, the administration designated 37 sites for Muslims to pray on Fridays. However, last month, the number of sites was reduced to 20 after members of right-wing groups and locals started protesting against Friday prayers and disrupted namaz gatherings at several places. Muslim groups claim that they are forced to use public spaces as there are not enough mosques in the city.

There are only 13 mosques in Gurugram for its 500,000-strong Muslim population, Gurgaon Muslim Council members said, adding that Waqf land in several places has been encroached upon in recent years.

A senior official of the district administration, who asked not to be named, said they received information regarding disruptions at two sites on Friday but that the situation was controlled within a short time. “Police were deployed at all sites and they intervened when things started getting out of hand. We are yet to finalise the sites for namaz prayers — the exercise will take some more time. Until then, Muslims can offer prayers at the old designated sites with permission from area residents,” he said.

Permission to pray at the 20 designated sites was withdrawn after Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar said last Friday that namaz in open spaces will not be tolerated. The chief minister said new sites would be earmarked after discussions between all stakeholders and the district administration. That is yet to happen.

Arif Khan, executive with a private telecommunication company in Udyog Vihar, said they have been offering namaz in the park for the past six years and no one had ever objected to it before. “We were about to start our prayers when Hindu groups started shouting slogans and forced us to say ”Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and ”Hindustan Zindabad”. Even after we shouted these slogans, they asked us to leave the park and even threatened us,” he said.

A video of the alleged incident was circulated on social media and it purportedly showed a few youth, sporting saffron cloths, behaving in an aggressive manner and forcing Muslims to chant slogans with them.

Altaf Ahmad, spokesperson, Gurgaon Muslim Council, said it seems like vigilantism has taken over law and order in the city. “The far-right groups are defining how juma namaz will be offered and where. The Udyog Vihar Phase 5 incident is just one example of vigilantes forcing Muslims to raise ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ slogans. One can be assured that no police action will be taken against them. When Haryana CM made a statement around two months ago, that people should honour the 37 agreed upon places where namaz can happen in Gurgaon, the administration couldn’t implement or honour that statement. Instead, it kept reducing prayer sites from 37 to 20 and finally to six. However, after the CM went back on his stand, the police and administration lost no time in denying Muslims the right to offer namaz in open places,” he said.

Ahmad added that in spite of the Muslim community approaching the administration this week to resolve the namaz row, they haven’t been called to discuss the matter. “The Gurgaon Muslim community strongly feels that the right wing groups will continue to oppress minorities and fulfil their agenda of hate politics,” he said.

Praveen Yadav, a member of the Sanyukt Hindu Sangharsh Samiti, said they have been protesting against namaz happening in the open for the past three months. “We have already informed the Muslims that we will not let them offer prayers; yet, they are coming to the parks. We deployed more than 50 people at one of the sites and did not let them pray there.”

Deepak Saharan, deputy commissioner of police, said there were disruptions at two sites in Udyog Vihar but the police teams controlled the situation before it got ugly. “We have not received any complaint as yet; if Muslims want to file a complaint, we will register a case against those who disrupted namaz on Friday,” he said