The chief minister of the Indian state of Haryana, Manohar Lal Khattar, on Friday said that namaz and other religious activities should only be offered at their designated places and not in the open, stressing that the practice will “not be tolerated”, according to local media.
The CM said the government has informed the police and the deputy commissioner that the issue needs to be resolved. “To resolve it, everyone offers prayers at their own place,” the chief minister was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
“Someone offers namaz, someone does paath (recitation of holy texts), someone does puja (worship) — we have no issue with that. And religious places are built for these purposes only so that prayers are offered there.
“Such practices should not take place in the open. This practice of offering namaz prayers here in the open will not be tolerated.”
Earlier in the day, some members of extremist Hindu organisations did not allow Friday prayers in Gurgaon city.
To stop the prayers at sector 37, condolence meetings were organised for Bipin Rawat, his wife and other army personnel, who had lost their lives in a chopper crash on December 8. Trucks and other vehicles were also found parked at the location.
Meanwhile, Friday prayer was disrupted in a park located in sector 44 by members of the Hindu right-wing organisations. However, due to the deployment of a heavy police force at the site, no untoward incident was reported.
A Muslim man, Rashid Malik, who was prevented from reaching the site said, “This is a wrong way to stop us from offering namaz. In sector 37, a number of people are offering namaz since several years and nobody ever stopped us but now few organisations are deliberately disrupting the prayers to gain political mileage. We believe that a real Hindu cannot prevent anybody from offering prayers,” Rashid Malik told media.
Earlier, in a meeting with the district administration, the Muslim organisations had decided to go ahead with Friday prayers at 18 places, including six temporary spots in Gurgaon.
Critics have accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of persecuting minorities, including India’s 200-million-strong Muslim population.
Modi’s government rejects having a Hindu agenda and claims that people of all religions have equal rights. Haryana state, of which Gurgaon is the capital, is ruled by the BJP.
With additional input from INP
