Residents of Gurugram for the fourth consecutive week continued their peaceful protest against namaz being offered at a public ground opposite the State Vigilance Bureau office in Sector 47.
On Friday (October 15) afternoon around 100 people carrying placards, singing bhajan and raising slogans came to the ground. They were carrying a portable speaker and a mic. They were also shouting slogans against Manohar Lal Khattar government for failing to stop namaz in public places. Their placards read ‘Namaz ki jagah khaali karo’ and they kept chanting and singing ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ and bhajans.
There was heavy police deployment and they were stopped 100 meters away from where namaz was being offered. As local police had stopped the protest from Hindu community, the police officials also asked members of the Muslim community to renter the ground from the Subhash Chowk side.
ACP Aman Yadav confirmed the demonstration stating “efforts are ongoing for a solution, including finding an alternate place for namaz.” He further stated that prayers were offered peacefully and informed that in the last week the administration had held meetings with representatives of both communities to resolve the issue.
Haryana | Locals staged a protest against offering Friday Namaz at a ground in Sector-47, Gurugram for the fourth consecutive week by performing puja. Efforts are ongoing for a solution, including finding an alternate place for Namaz: ACP Aman Yadav (15.10) pic.twitter.com/QsrIRiPO0V
— ANI (@ANI) October 15, 2021
Sunil Yadav, president of the residents’ welfare association of Sector 47 who is at the forefront of stopping namaz in public places has repeatedly told the media that it created lots of disturbances including traffic jams. The protesting residents said that Muslims should offer Friday prayers at the mosques or on Waqf Board land, and not in public places.
However, it is also stated that this ground of Sector 47 is among 37 designated sites where prayers could be offered in the open. This was decided after a dispute took place in 2018. But local residents alleged that the facts are being fabricated as the permission was granted only for a day.
Residents question whether the state government and local administration will allow Hindus to occupy public places for prayers and bhajan. Local residents alleged that most of the Muslims joining prayer here come from far-away places like sectors 7 and 8. They have options and spaces in their own area to offer namaz but they only come here with the intention to create trouble and encroach land.
Resentment of local residents is not unfounded since the problem is not limited to Sector 47. In May 2018, BJP’s Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had stated that namaz should be read in mosques rather than in public places. The remark was in the context of public places being occupied for namaz that cause inconvenience. Within Gurugram district in 2018 namaz was offered at public places at as many as 76 locations and arrangements were made for the same by the local administration.
