NEW DELHI: Chief Minister of the Indian state of Haryana, Manohar Lal Khattar, has barred Muslims from offering namaz and other religious activities in open spaces, stressing that the practice will “not be tolerated”, local media reported.
The move comes after weeks of tension in the city of Gurgaon, where Hindu groups have been disrupting Friday prayers and putting pressure on authorities to stop Muslims from offering the prayers in open spaces.
In a statement, Manohar Lal asserted that the government had informed the police and the deputy commissioner that the issue needed to be resolved. “To resolve it, everyone offers prayers at their own place,” the chief minister added.
“Someone offers namaz, someone does paath (recitation of holy texts), someone does puja (worship) — we have no issue with that. Religious places are built for these purposes only so that prayers are offered there,” he added.
The chief minister continued, “Such practices should not take place in the open. This practice of offering namaz prayers here in the open will not be tolerated.”
Authorities had reached an agreement in 2018 whereby Muslims were allowed to offer prayers at designated areas. That agreement has now been withdrawn, with Khattar saying the Gurgaon administration was “renegotiating” with all parties to work out an “amicable” solution that would not encroach on anyone’s rights.
“Muslims have said that they have several places where they should be given permission to pray. Some of their properties or those under Waqf board are encroached upon, how they can be made available to them is being discussed. Offering namaz in the open and this confrontation, we will not allow this confrontation to continue,” Khattar added.
Hours before the chief minister’s statement, Gurgaon locals and members of pro-Hindutva groups took over an area in sector 37, which had been designated for prayers, Indian media reported. They held a “condolence meet” to mourn the death of Indian defence chief Bipin Rawat, who was killed in a helicopter crash on Wednesday.
In October, dozens of people, many from Hindu right-wing groups, were arrested in Gurgaon for disrupting Friday prayer gatherings. Police had deployed several hundred extra personnel and arrested at least 30 people as crowds of locals and Hindu groups chanted slogans.
