Hindutva outfits stop namaz at several places in Gurgaon

Friday prayers were stopped by Hindutva outfits that went around Gurgaon shouting slogans such as ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Bangladeshi wapas jao’ and disrupted congregations at several spots.

Unprecedented scenes of people offering namaz getting up midway and running away and prayer congregations dispersing in the face of aggressive slogan-shouting were witnessed in different parts of the city, including busy areas like Iffco Chowk, Udyog Vihar, Leisure Valley Park and the Mall Mile on MG Road. At a park opposite Candor Techspace, a group of corporate executives prayed amid heavy security cover. What happened on Friday had been building up for a month. 

On April 6, a group of men from Wazirabad village opposed prayers at a ground in Sector 43 and threatened the congregation.



A video of men disrupting the prayers again on April 20 hit social media, leading to six of them being arrested on April 26. Earlier this week, several Hindutva outfits hit the streets demanding that the FIR against the six men be scrapped and prayers be allowed only at designated places approved by the government. The local unit of VHP had also threatened to stop namaz at open spaces if the government did not act.

This Friday, a group of around 70 people, who claimed they had united under the “banner of Om”, gathered at Wazirabad village and fanned out across the city in small groups. According to estimates, prayers are held in open spaces at 115 spots in the city because there aren’t enough mosques for approximately 6 lakh Muslims in Gurgaon.