Bengaluru railway station authorities deployed security and locked a restroom meant for porters at the station, after a right-wing group alleged it was being used to offer prayers by Muslim porters. A day after the incident, the porters restored the room to its previous state ‘as directed by the authorities and it was reopened on Wednesday.
On Monday, a purported video of the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS), a radical right-wing group, barging into the porters’ resting room at the Krantivira Sangolli Rayanna Railway Station where they claimed that Namaaz was being was widely shared on social media. The outfit then submitted a memorandum to the divisional railway manager alleging that the resting room was converted into an unauthorised place for prayer saying that it is ‘a threat to national security’. Following this, the South Western Railways (SWR) repainted the walls of the room on Tuesday and deployed personnel of the Railway Police Force (RPF) after locking it.
‘The restroom is the porter’s place and even today they are the ones who take care of it. We have never interfered in their restroom and they have never complained about their colleagues performing prayers. The issue will be solved in consultation’, an SWR official told the Indian Express.
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Several porters working at the Krantivira Sangolli Rayanna Railway Station said that they were disappointed with the issue and that their only concern was earning a livelihood. ‘A few years ago, the Railways wanted to demolish the temple which is on platform 8 to construct an elevator and when we opposed it, the Muslim porters also stood with us. We feel we betrayed our Muslim brothers. We celebrate all festivals together and all we care about is earning our livelihood. We have a system in place where we stand in a queue the whole day hoping to get a customer. That’s where it starts and ends’, the IE quoted a porter.
‘We are about 280 porters from all faiths and our religion has never been an issue. There is a temple on platform 8 and there is a church in the railway colony and half of the restroom was used to perform Namaaz. The other half is used to rest by all. Neither Muslims nor Hindus have any problem with it. It has been prevailing for the last 40-50 years and it was never an issue. We do not know why they brought religion here’, said another porter, who has been working for 23 years.
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