India: Hindu groups continue to disrupt Muslim prayers in Gurgaon

For more than two months now, Hindu vigilantes have tried to stop the minority community from offering their prayers outside the Indian capital.

For more than two months now, right-wing Hindu groups have been protesting against Muslims offering Friday prayers in public spaces in Gurugram – less than an hour outside the Indian capital New Delhi – causing outrage and anxiety among the minority.

Last Friday, the demonstrators parked nearly a dozen trucks at one of the prayer sites in Sector 37 of Gurugram, which is better known by its older name Gurgaon, in the northern state of Haryana, which is governed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

As a group of Muslims arrived for the weekly congregational prayers, a crowd of Hindu men began shouting religious slogans, including Hail Lord Ram, heckling the worshippers, and saying the prayers would not be allowed – all in the presence of heavy police security.

Gurugram, home to 1.1 million people, according to the 2011 census, is a financial and technology hub where numerous multinational companies have their offices. Less than 5 percent of its residents are Muslim.

Faced with a shortage of mosques, Gurugram’s Muslims had been offering their Friday prayers in parks and on empty lots for years with due approval from the authorities. About 100 such sites were earmarked for the purpose.

But persistent protests by Hindu groups have disrupted the prayers in recent months, prompting city officials to withdraw permission from most of the sites.

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES