Namaz issue: right-wing groups claim agreement with imams

Gurgaon Muslim Council calls it a Sanyukt Hindu Sangharsh Samiti conspiracy

Representatives of the Gurugram Imam Sangathan present a memorandum over the ongoing namaz issue to the Deputy Commissioner in Gurugram on Monday.

The Gurugram Imam Sangathan in a joint meeting with the district administration and right-wing groups on Monday agreed not to hold Friday prayers at the 20 designated open places and instead sought new half-a-dozen open places on rent from the administration for offering the prayers.

List of six places

Muslim Rashtriya Manch convener Khurshid Rajaka, addressing mediapersons after the meeting late on Monday evening, said the prayers would not be offered at the 20 designated places involved in the controversy and the Imam Sangathan had submitted a list of six places to the district administration seeking their permission to hold namaz.

Mr. Rajaka said they had offered to pay rent in return for using these public places for offering namaz. “We have made a written request for these places. It is for the administration to decide,” he said.

He said there was never any opposition to offering of namaz in Gurugram, but the only demand was to hold the prayers in a more organised manner.

The Imam Sangathan, in the letter to the administration, said they needed six public places on a temporary basis till the time they get back the properties belonging to the Waqf Board.

The group also demanded that the administration help them get back the Waqf Board properties.

‘Imams responsible’

Expressing satisfaction over the development, Sanyukt Hindu Sangharsh Samiti president Mahavir Bhardwaj said in case any issue comes up in the future with regards to offering namaz in the city, then their group would engage only with the Imam Sangathan and not those “trying to take political mileage out of the situation”.

Mr. Bhardwaj said these imams would also be responsible to establish the identity of the devotees offering prayers.

However, the Gurgaon Muslim Council, a Muslim group constituted to hold talks with the administration on the issue, rejected the agreement saying the Sanyukt Hindu Sangharsh Samiti has once again colluded with the Muslim Rashtriya Manch (an RSS wing) who got some Maulanas along with them and conspired to state that Friday prayers would not happen at any of the open places in Gurugram which had been approved by the administration since May 2018.

The Council, in a statement, said that it would soon expose the conspiracy behind it.