Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of trying to communalise the atmosphere in the country.
Referring to the ‘namaz’ controversy in neighbouring Haryana, the Congress leader said that India is governed by the Constitution and no one has the right to prevent anyone from holding prayers anywhere they want.
The Punjab CM took strong exception to Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar’s reported remark that namaz should be offered only in mosques.
Responding to a question during a press conference, the Punjab CM said that according to him the BJP seemed to be out to polarise the society on religious lines to garner votes.
Earlier today, the Haryana CM had clarified that he did not talk about stopping anyone from offering namaz in open areas
“I haven’t spoken about stopping anyone. Maintaining law and order is the duty of the police and the administration,” Khattar said in Chandigarh.
In his reaction to reports that of namaz being disrupted allegedly by right-wing groups in Gurugram on 4 May, the Haryana CM had reportedly said, “Namaz should be read in mosques or idgahs rather than in public spaces.”
The CM said his government is keeping a close watch on the situation but if there is shortage of places for offering namaz, it should be done in personal spaces such as inside homes.
Read More: Haryana CM Khattar clarifies on ‘namaz only in mosques, idgahs’ remark
The alleged disruptions of namaz have become a major controversy for the state government. 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.
As per reports, the fringe groups have been allegedly visiting many locations across Gurugram for the last two weeks where namaz is offered every Friday and preventing them from doing so. There were reports of disruptions at Wazirabad, Atul Kataria Chowk, Cyber Park, Bakhtawar Chowk and at South City.
They allege a land grab attempt in a bid to merge it with the mosques.
Even Haryana health minister Anil Vij shared a similar concern.
“Occasionally if someone needs to read the namaz, he has the religious freedom to do so but one can’t read namaz anywhere in the open, with the intention of grabbing land. The government can’t allow that,” Vij said.