Namaz protest called off at one site, staged at another

Gurgaon: Following successive weeks of protest marked by bhajan recitals against namaz in the open in Sector 47, a group of people on Friday gathered about 50 metres from a site where prayers were being held – this time in Sector 12 – and raised slogans like “Jai Shri Ram” and “Bharat Mata ki Jai”.
Like in the previous weeks, there was heavy police deployment with the cops positioning themselves between the prayer gathering and the protesters to prevent an escalation. An argument broke out when they prevented the protesters from approaching the congregation.
Later, supported by the protesters, Kamlesh Saini, a resident of Rajiv Nagar (Sector 13), submitted a police complaint, alleging those who offer namaz at the site are not locals and police should check their identity cards. ACP (Old City) Ashok Kumar said the complaint had been sent to the administration.
Kulbhushan Bharadwaj, a former BJP Gurgaon district president who led the protests, said some residents were not happy with namaz being held in open areas. “We will protest again in different parts of the city,” he added.
Altaf Ahamad, member of the Gurgaon Nagrik Ekta Manch that had earlier petitioned the administration to act against attempts to disrupt namaz, said the protesters went very close to the Sector 12 prayer site and shouted slogans while prayers were on. “Their real issue is not namaz in the open. They intend to create hatred in society,” he alleged.
He added that people gathered in open areas for namaz in various parts of the city because of convenience. “They usually assemble in small groups, offer prayers and then go back to work. Many organisations also assign places for Friday prayers. It takes just 15-20 minutes,” Ahmad said, adding that it is not convenient during working hours to travel 2-4 km to offer namaz and then return.
Namaz was, meanwhile, offered peacefully and without any disruption this Friday in Sector 47, said ACP (Sadar) Aman Yadav. The protests in the area had been called off earlier this week after the local RWA head met the Gurgaon deputy commissioner.
The city had first seen protests and opposition to namaz in open areas in 2018. At the time, namaz used to be offered at 106 places in the open. After the protests, the administration held a series of meetings with people from both communities and designated 37 sites for namaz to be offered.