Gurgaon Nagrik Ekta Manch, a citizens’ forum, on Tuesday announced that it would launch a public awareness campaign, countering hatred, fake news and false allegations with reason and facts on the controversy surrounding the offering of Friday prayers (Jumma Namaz) in the open.
Addressing a press conference, Manch co-founder Altaf Ahmad said Muslims were obligated to offer Jumma Namaz in a congregation and ideally, the prayer would be in a mosque. But there were only a handful of mosques in the city. “Muslims are the largest minority of Gurugram with the least number of permanent prayer institutions,” said Mr. Ahmad.
No inconvenience
He added that the community had voluntarily reduced the number of sites for Friday prayers to less than one-third in 2018, and none of the sites obstructed traffic or caused any inconvenience to others. “There is not a single case in any police station about namazis harassing women or indulging in crime. This is a false accusation. Also, there is not a single instance where the site of Friday prayer has been occupied or any temporary or permanent structure has been fixed,” said Mr. Ahmad.
Vinita Singh, another member of the Manch, said the platform would be made available to all those who disagree with the current campaign against the Jumma Namaz and stand for a united Gurugram to be part of the campaign.
Meanwhile, office-bearers of Sanyukt Hindu Sangharsh Samiti held a meeting with Deputy Commissioner Yash Garg. Dr. Garg put forth the viewpoints of the administration and the Muslim community on the matter, and set up a joint committee with representations of all the three stakeholders to meet on Wednesday, said the Samiti leaders.
Samiti’s president Mahavir Bhardwaj claimed that some Muslim groups had given their consent to not hold Friday prayers at public places, but their agitation would continue till the administration comes out with an official order. The Samiti leaders reiterated that they would go ahead with their programme to hold “Govardhan Pooja” at namaz sites on November 5.
