Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Monday gave a clarification, on his ‘namaz restricted to mosques and idgahs only’ remark, saying that he is not restricting anybody to congregate for namaz in public areas.

“I haven’t spoken about stopping anyone. Maintaining law and order is the duty of the police and the administration,” CM Khattar said.

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However, contrary to CM’s clarification, Haryana minister Anil Vij had said that offering prayers at public place with the intention of grabbing the land is wrong and will not be allowed.

Earlier, CM Khattar had said that namaz congregations should be restricted to mosques and idgahs only. The Haryana Chief Minister had said that there had been an increase in instances of namaz being offered in the open.

Tensions were reported in Gurugram after another incident related to disruption of Friday namaz. Right-wing organisations disrupted namaz congregations at several open spaces in Gurugram on 4 May and demanded the worshipers to leave the area.

As per a Hindustan Times news report, the outfits claimed that they will continue to ‘disrupt’ namaz congregations in the open if the authorities do not take action against the ‘unauthorised’ prayer meets.

Under the aegis of Sanyukt Hindu Sangharsh Samiti, members of theVishwa Hindu Parishad, Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Kranti Dal, Swadeshi Jagran Manch, Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal, Hindu Jagran Manch, Bharat Bachao Abhiyan and Gurugram Sanskritik Gaurav Samiti arrived at several spots to disrupt the Friday prayers.

There were disruptions at Wazirabad, Atul Kataria Chowk, Cyber Park, Bakhtawar Chowk, South City, Mehrauli-Gurgaon road and Iffco Chowk

However, police was present at the namaz sites and prevented any violence from taking place.

Right-wing organisations have been trying to stop Friday prayers in Gurgaon over the last two weeks, alleging that some people were trying to grab land in a bid to merge it with a mosque.

The namaz in open space controversy began on 20 April, when six people disrupted Friday namaz at a vacant plot in Gurugram’s Sector 53, where about 500 men gathered on the government-owned plot to offer prayer, when the accused disrupted the namaz with alleged chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Radhe Radhe’.

Following the protest by the Hindu groups, the administration had put up public notices at the disputed sites. At the Sector 53 plot, a notice board was put up saying it was HUDA land.

There are 22 mosques in Gurugram and about 106 open spaces where namaz is offered.