Express News Service
CHANDIGARH: Gurugram protest over offering of Jumma Namaz every Friday has not ended yet. The local residents and right wing organizations were protesting over last four weeks at Sector 47 of the millennium city. The Gurugram administration on Monday managed to convince them not to protest for two weeks. But today, the protests erupted at Sector 12-A, as protestors chanted slogans of Jai shree Ram during the Namaz.
Sources said that the protestors claimed that the ground in Sector 12-A is a private property and they won’t allow it to be used for prayers. As the situation was getting out of order, the Haryana Police reached the spot and tried to pacify the agitators but they continued to raise Jai Shri Ram slogans. The protestors argued with police officers while the members of the Muslim community offered Namaz in background.
The police officials told the protestors that their apprehensions will be conveyed to the administration officials. The protestors alleged that large crowd gathers during Namaz which causes bloackage of roads leading to traffic disruption. The local residents’ movement is also hindered when Namaz prayers are offered at the public place.
After four weeks of regular protests, residents of Sector 47 and members of Hindu outfits on Monday decided to halt their protest for two weeks after meeting the deputy commissioner who assured for a possible solution.
A leader from the protest Kulbhushan Bhardwaj said, “There is a plot of three acre land just a few meters away which belongs to HSVP. The administration can give them that land to hold their prayers. The people who come to offer Namaz don’t belong to the area. They have made these places as permanent prayer spots.’’
He alleged that most of them are illegal immigrants who create law and order issues and traffic problems. Three years back, the controversy of holding Friday prayers in public places resulted in a major controversy after which the police and local administration identified 37 sites where prayers were allowed, said sources. Meanwhile the members of the Muslim community said that they were being harassed by the residents in various sectors of Gurugram.