Lucknow: Sambhal, in Uttar Pradesh, where communal violence broke out last November over a court-ordered survey of a mosque, is once again in the news.
An advisory banning Eid prayers on rooftops has sparked a controversy, with questions being asked about Muslims being treated as second-class citizens.
Following a peace committee meeting on Wednesday, Sambhal’s Additional SP Shirish Chandra said that Alvida Juma prayers on March 28 and Eid prayers on March 31 will not be conducted on the streets. He also announced that prayers will not be offered on rooftops in the Kotwali Sambhal area.
Such a directive hasn’t gone down well with the Muslim community.
Imran Masood, Congress MP from Saharanpur, has hit out at the administration, saying that the Uttar Pradesh government has no right to stop people from performing namaaz on their rooftops in Sambhal on the occasion of Eid or Alvida Juma.
“Roads are the government’s property, so they can stop (namaaz). They have a problem with namaaz being performed on the road for five minutes, but a road can be blocked for other purposes all night. But rooftops of houses are not your property, why a ban on namaaz there? You have made Muslims second-class citizens in the country,” Masood told CNN-News18.
Masood also accused government officials in Sambhal of being “mentally disturbed”, and not respecting the sanctity of their position.
BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP and former UP deputy CM Dinesh Sharma defended the Sambhal administration, saying that the namaaz order was appropriate. He was of the opinion that namaaz should not be performed on roads, but inside mosques or at homes.
BJP is making an effort to reach out to Muslims across the country on the occasion of Eid. The party is distributing ‘Saugat-e-Modi’ kits to 32 lakh Muslim families through mosques in the country.
Masood mocked the saffron party, asking, “Is this a saugat (gift)?”
“You are stopping Muslims from reading the namaaz on rooftops or roads. If there has to be a saugat, then give Muslims a saugat of security, education, jobs, and give a saugat of junking the Waqf amendment bill. Why are you making Muslims beggars? Is a Muslim begging from you,” Masood asked.
