Civil society members met the Gurgaon divisional commissioner. (Express photo by Manoj Kumar)
Even as members of the Sanyukt Hindu Sangharsh Samiti held a press conference on Tuesday, threatening to take to the streets next week if the district administration does not ban reading of namaz on vacant plots and parks, the deputy commissioner of Gurgaon met with representatives of the Muslim community in the city to hear their concerns and reach a solution.
“I met some members of the community today to hear their apprehensions. I have asked both parties to create small committees that can recommend solutions, and am scheduled to meet them at different times tomorrow,” said Chander Shekhar Khare, who has stepped in as deputy commissioner since Vinay Pratap Singh is on leave. “We are hopeful that, at some point, we will be able to get both groups in a room together to reach a peaceful solution, but that call has to be taken later.”
Members of the Samiti, meanwhile, reiterated their demands and issued a one-week deadline to the administration to designate places for Friday prayers. “Our main demand is that a ban be invoked on reading the namaz in the open, and we have given the district administration a week to do this. Else, we will take to the streets and prevent namaz from being read on vacant plots and in parks,” said Sube Singh, former sarpanch of Wazirabad village.
Outfits that are part of the Samiti, including the Shiv Sena, Hindu Sena, Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Kranti Dal and Bajrang Dal, also demanded that permission to read namaz only be given “in places where the strength of this population is more than 50 per cent, otherwise there will continue to be a possibility of peace being obstructed”.
In addition, the Samiti has demanded that “Rohingya and Bangladeshis residing in Gurgaon be identified and marked”.
The Waqf Board has, meanwhile, written to the deputy commissioner requesting removal of encroachment from 19 of its properties, which could then be restored, and Imams deployed there to conduct Friday prayers. The district administration claims around 80 per cent of these sites are free of encroachment.
“Some places have been used as a dumping ground, which the Waqf Board can get cleared up, and the district administration is willing to extend help if it is required at any point in this task,” said Khare. “Encroachment has been found at some places, and the Waqf Board can take action to get this cleared.”
Speaking to The Indian Express, the deputy commissioner acknowledged that reconstruction or restoration of these structures is unlikely to be a long-term solution. “Most of these mosques are located in Old Gurgaon, while the current issue is more relevant for New Gurgaon, where there are fewer religious places for prayers, and more people read namaz in open spaces. Hence, this is not a long-term solution, and our search for alternate pieces of land where Friday prayers can be conducted is still ongoing.”