There is no Haryana government order banning offering namaz in public spaces, but Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has ruffled communal feathers by making what he later said was a casual remark and clarifying that he did not say anything about stopping anyone from offering namaz anywhere!
Khattar, who was an RSS pracharak, till he turned out to be the dark horse pipping many other contenders to the post of chief minister of Haryana—a state where his was not a known name in politics—on Sunday commented that it was “not right to pray in open spaces.”
This was in reaction to rightwing groups disrupting the Friday namaz that was being offered in Sector 53 of Gurugram, the Haryana megapolis adjoining the national capital on April 20. The activists raised “Jai Shree Ram” slogans and shouted, “Masjid kis liye banaya hai,” as they scared off the people offering namaz, and the video of the disruption went viral. The Gurugram district police arrested six men who figured prominently in the video.
But reminiscent of the Kathua rape and murder case, wherein the Hindu Ekta Manch was formed to protest the charge-sheet against the culprits, a “Samyukt Hindu Sangharsh Samiti” was formed. It supported the arrested persons and demanded a ban on namaz in open spaces.
The arrested youth were later released on bail. The SHSS was joined by the Bajrang Dal and VHP among others, and they submitted a memorandum addressed to the chief minister and the district magistrate. In the memorandum, they said the namaz was an attempt to encroach on public spaces.
The chief minister clarified his remark, saying it was the government's duty to maintain law and order. But what he said further, before emplaning for an official tour of Israel and the UK, has led to intense fear on what may transpire come next Friday. “There has been an increase in offering namaz in the open. namaz should be read in mosques or idgahs, rather than in public spaces,” he told a television agency. He also added that the government was all eyes on the situation, and suggested that if there was shortage of places, people should offer namaz at home.
Haryana Congress leader and former power minister Ajay Yadav, who has represented the Rewari constituency adjoining Gurugram, smelled political intent behind the incident as well as in the intervention by the chief minister by way of a broadside, rather than ensuring that minority community members offering namaz are protected by the state.
“It is a vacant patch of land, and Muslims have been offering namaz there for a long time. No one has objected to it or disrupted them. There is not even a temple or any other place of worship nearby. It is pure politics they are playing to communalise the situation ahead of elections in 2019,” said Yadav, wondering why the government could not think of allotting them space in that case. He likened it to yoga being performed in parks.
A Muslim who supports the Jat-dominated INLD and did not want to be named said there were lately many such obstructions to Muslims praying in the open, and suggested there may be apprehensions that holding namaz could lead to building a mosque in the land that did not belong to them and thus be seen as an encroachment.
The issue has also brought into focus the many forms of prayers—jagrata, bhandara, kirtans and kawarias—that are held in public spaces including on roadsides.