There is an ongoing conflict between Hindu right-wing groups and Muslims in a city in the north Indian state of Haryana, which has been going on since last month’s attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh. Their members reportedly occupied a site at Sector 12A in Gurgaon, Haryana, to prevent Muslims from praying, reports NDTV.
Following mob attacks on mosques in the northeast of India, Indian police are looking for the owners of around 100 social media accounts suspected of sharing ‘fake news’. Since mid-October, Muslims’ Friday and daily prayers have also been halted repeatedly in Gurgaon. Several Muslim-owned businesses and homes were looted in Tripura last month, where at least four mosques were vandalized.
There has been high tension in the aforementioned areas for nearly a month now. On Friday, pictures from the site at Gurgaon showed people sitting around; they had gathered in the morning and were constructing a volleyball court. However, they were stopped from being able to pray at these sites. Last week, right-wing (hindu) groups had spread cow dung cakes over the Namaz area as part of their ‘puja,’ and to date, it has not been cleared.
Despite recent protests and intimidation at this and other sites, Muslim organizations have said they will not pray at this site on Friday. The protests on Friday are the latest in what has become a weekly standoff between the two sides, in which residents of some Gurgaon neighborhoods – bolstered reportedly by right-wing groups – have hit out at Muslims praying in public spaces.
There are 29 (it used to be 37) ‘designated’ sites for the offer of namaz following an agreement between Hindus and Muslims following similar clashes in 2018. Some of these spaces are actually public property, such as Sector 47. There are other properties, however, that are private, and namaz cannot be offered there.
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Gurgaon authorities withdrew permission to offer namaz at eight of these ‘designated’ sites last week (before Friday prayers). Administration officials said they made this decision after ‘objections’ and warned that similar ‘objections’ would not be allowed at other sites. ‘For namaz in any public or open place, consent from the administration is required,’ the document said, adding, ‘If the local people object to namaz at other places too, permission will not be granted…’.
There were reports that a committee – headed by Deputy Commissioner Yash Garg – would identify alternative sites, but it’s not clear whether the committee has met since or if progress has been made. On the week before November 5, police detained 30 protesters from Sector 12A. In videos of the stand-off, they could be seen holding placards reading ‘Gurgaon administration, wake up from your sleep’.
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