'Chant Bharat Mata ki Jai or we won't let you pray'

Gurugram: As the Namaz row continued in Gurugram, right-wing Hindu outfits took their opposition against local Muslims offering prayers peacefully at government-designated spots to another level this Friday — bullying local Muslims in Udyog Vihar into saying "Bharat Mata ki Jai" and "Hindustan Zindabad" before letting them pray.

The public park at Udyog Vihar, where local Muslims were threatened and intimidated is one of the six government plots recently designated by the local administration for public Namaz. The around 70 Muslims who had congregated there this Friday were bullied into submission as the Gurugram Police looked on — without taking action.

When certain devotees at Udyog Vihar said they did not wish to chant the slogans, the protesters under the banner of the Sanyukta Sangharsh Hindu Samiti (SSHS) became aggressive and questioned the loyalty of devotees by asking them if they were from Pakistan. The Muslims were also told that their ancestors were purportedly first Hindus.

Using expletives all the way, the SSHS protesters said they would not allow Namaz at the spot unless the devotees first chanted the slogans of "bharat mata ki jai" and "hindustan zindabad". Even as the devotees requested that they at least be allowed to offer Namaz first, the protesters insisted that they chant the slogans first.

Finally, after deliberations, the devotees agreed to chant the slogans and offered Namaz.

But the intimidation was not isolated with protesters also disrupting Namaz at the Sector-22 spot — also one of the designated spots for Jumma Namaz. "Welcome to the new Millennium city of Gurugram where vigilantism seems to have taken over law and order. Right Wing groups are now defining how Juma Namaz will be offered and where it will be offered," said Altaf Ahmad of Gurugram Nagrik Ekta Manch.

Moreover, even as Muslims refrained from showing up at the Sector-37 site after continued tension in the area, Hindu outfits "protesting religious events at public places" again occupied the Namaz spot and organised bhajan-kirtan (hymns to the lord) and bhandara (providing free meals to the needy) at this site as authorities looked on.