Namaaz should only be offered in designated spaces, says Haryana CM

Gururgam: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday broke his silence on the lingering controversy of 'namaaz' being disrupted in some areas of Gurugram, saying that namaaz should only be offered in designated spaces.

He added that as there was an increase in the number of such cases, due to many people were registering protests.

"Ideally, there should be a situation where devotees must offer their prayers at mosques or desiganted places allotted to offer 'namaaz'. With large number of cases of people coming out and offering their prayers in open areas, people have begun to register their protest. I have told officials to make sure that amid differences, law and order situation should not deteriorate," said the Chief Minister.

Khattar's statement comes at a time when the Waqf board has begun scouting locations for the Muslim community to offer 'namaaz' peacefully.

The Board also urged public bodies to help them find suitable locations.

Two weeks after members of the minority community were stopped from offering namaaz at a site in Gurugram's Sector-43 site, the issue seems far from resolved.

In order to maintain peace, prayer offerings were stopped at the site in Saraswati Kunj.

Taking cognisance of the issue, the Haryana Urbana Development Authority (HUDA) placed a board at the site stating that the land was public property.

The step was taken even as certain fringe outfits carried out protests demanding that encroachment of prime land in Gurugram on the pretext of religious rituals should be prohibited.

The protestors also demanded that strict government action must also be taken in other prime areas of the city.

The vacant land near Saraswati Kunj is adjacent to Golf Course road, which houses some of the most expensive real estate properties in the country.

It is important to note that several plots in the Saraswati Kunj colony do not have a licence and are, therefore, illegal.

Amid the controversy, the issue of encroachment of prime real estate has once again come to the fore.

While fringe groups have alleged that this is a ploy to illegally capture the land, members of the minority community have denied the claims.

In the past, there have been instances where religious structures have been built to encroach upon prime land.

Some fringe outfits are even calling such encroachment by Muslims as 'land jihad'.

The controversy has once again highlighted the issue of increased aggression by fringe elements in the Millennium City. Earlier, issues such as selling 'beef biryani' on the streets of Mewat and 'illegal trade of cattle' have resulted in violent protests and activities.

There have also been various 'programmes' launched to check the arrival of migrant labours in the city.