Havan held at Namaz site again — this time claiming it was for martyrs of 26/11

Gurugram: As the district administration and the police in Gurugram failed to stop rogue right-wing Hindu groups from disrupting public Namaz at designated spots yet again, tensions over the row in the NCR city are now escalating with protesters chanting 'Jai Shree Ram' in the faces of praying Muslims — with some resorting to the use of expletives too — as the police stood by.

The Sector 37 site in Gurugram, which is among the 20 remaining designated spots for Namaz, was first disrupted for the first time last Friday but this week, residents and Hindu outfits encroached upon the site and performed yet another havan at the Namaz site - this time claiming it was to pay obeisance to the lives lost in the November 26, 2008 terrorist attacks.

But even as more and more people offer their private spaces to local Muslims for prayers amid this hostile environment, the tension this Friday increased when a couple of dozen or so local Muslims said they would not back down this time — and went ahead and peacefully offered prayers on the road beside the designated site.

A few Fridays back, outfits such as the Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and others, under the banner of Sanyukt Sangharsh Hindu Samiti (SSHS), had performed a havan at the Sector-12A Namaz site and left behind cow dung cakes on the site after the ritual.

This Friday, however, at the Sector-37 site, when local Muslims decided to offer Namaz at a site a little away from the havan, one of the protesters left the ritual to plant himself directly in front of the locals offering Namaz and started shouting 'Jai Shree Ram' as they performed their

prayers.

Soon, he was joined by the others in the area, who raised chants of 'Bharat Mata ki Jai', 'Bajrang bali ki jai' and 'Raja Ram Chandra ki jai'. Many of them also resorted to using expletives as the locals prayed — with over 90 law enforcement officials standing by.

"This land belongs to my ancestors and I will not allow it to be encroached upon in the name of faith. I am willing to go to any extent to protect our ancestors' land from outsiders who come and try to control it in the name of faith," said a fervent Ram Sharan.

The Muslim Ekta Manch expressed disappointment that the police at the site did nothing to safeguard locals who were being prevented from offering Namaz and were being intimidated by the Hindu outfits.

"It is now becoming clear that the relationship between two communities is being made to deteriorate by certain rogue elements. We will now hold our ground and not surrender to these bullying tactics. We would have participated wholeheartedly in offering our obeisance to 26/11 martyrs but trying to exclude us from that and disrupting our prayers is not acceptable to us," Haji Shahzad Khan of the Muslim Ekta Manch told Millennium Post.

But even as Gurudwaras in the city have offered their premises to Muslims who wish to pray, for the second Friday since the offer was made, they did not do so — largely owing to the threats that Gurudwaras are receiving for allowing Namaz.