Namaaz room in Jharkhand assembly: PIL filed in high court

This comes amid a ruckus in the state assembly over the same, with the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) calling it the state government’s “appeasement politics”

Published on: Sep 8, 2021, 10:32:19 IST

By Vishal Kant

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A public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed in Jharkhand high court on Tuesday against the allocation of a dedicated room for Muslims to offer namaaz in the state assembly building. This comes amid a ruckus in the state assembly over the same, with the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) calling it the state government’s “appeasement politics”.

Petitioner Bhairav Singh has sought cancellation of the notification issued to this effect on September 2 by the assembly Secretariat. “We have filed the petition seeking cancellation of the notification that allotted a separate room for namaaz because it violates the preamble of the Constitution, which clearly mentions secularism as one of the guarding principles of the Constitution. The state can’t protect or propagate any religion. Vidhan Sabha is a law-making body and a public funded institution,” said Singh’s counsel Rajiv Kumar.

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The BJP has been stalling the proceedings in the ongoing monsoon session, demanding that either the notification be cancelled or they also be granted a place for worship. Party legislators did kirtan outside the House on Monday and read Hanuman Chalisa inside the well of the House on Tuesday. Today, they are organising a march up to the assembly even as the ruling combine of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Congress, and Rashtriya Janata Dal has refused to relent.

The state government has defended the notification, saying there has been such a room earlier, when the BJP was in power.

Jharkhand BJP president and Rajya Sabha member Deepak Prakash said the march is against the “perennial appeasement politics of the ruling dispensation”.

“Allocation of a namaaz room is not the first such issue. Recently, in the new employment policy, they included Urdu in the regional language papers for conducting exams for jobs, and removed Hindi from it. Two days back, a Congress legislator backed Taliban but the party leadership did not take any action,” said Prakash.

If they were being secular, they should have also provided space for worship to Hindus, Christians, Jains, besides Sarna and Jatra Sthal for the tribals, Prakash added.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Vishal Kant
Stationed in Ranchi, Vishal is heading the Jharkhand Bureau of Hindustan Times since November 2017. Besides leading the reporting team, Vishal tracks and writes on developments related to the state politics, economy and policy matters in Jharkhand. Prior to his current assignment, Vishal used to work in New Delhi after graduating from the University of Delhi. Vishal joined HT in the rank of Assistant Editor in August 2015 and was part of the Delhi Metro Bureau, covering a host of issues in the City-state including politics, policy---especially those related to urban traffic & transport infrastructure and railways. A native of Palamu district in Jharkhand, Vishal started his two-decade long career in the mainstream media in 2006. During this period, he has has worked in different capacity with a number of national media houses including the Financial Chronicle, India Today, Deccan Herald and The Hindu, before moving to the Hindustan Times. He holds the experience of having worked in three major mediums of mass communication--Print, Electronic and Digital. He is a proud father of two daughters.Read More

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