Indian Sikhs open doors of gurdawaras for Muslims banned by government to pray openly
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After an official ban on Muslim prayers at open places in India’s Gurugram city near New Delhi, a local organisation taking care of gurdwaras, holy places of the Sikh religion, has announced opening the doors of a gurdwara for Muslims.
Hindu extremists have been protesting against the Muslims’ act of offering Friday prayers at open places outside mosques for the last several weeks. As Muslims in larger numbers swarm mosques to say their weekly Friday prayers, mosques mostly cannot accommodate these big numbers of worshipers and they have to use the open places outside the mosques to say their prayers.
Keeping in view the protests by Hindu extremists, the local authorities in Gurugram city have stopped the Muslims from using the open places outside the mosques to offer their Friday prayers and cancelled the permission letters issued earlier in this regard.
Hindu extremists have also been disrupting the Muslim Friday prayers at open places by raising their religious slogans.
Last week, Hindu extremists filled an open place with cow dung where Muslims were going to say their Friday prayers the next day. They said they wanted to turn that place into a volleyball court.
Against this backdrop, an organisation associated with gurdwaras of the Sikh religion has come forward and announced opening a gurdwara in Gurugram so that Muslims can offer their Friday prayers there.
Harteerath Singh, Community Development Director at Hemkunt Foundation, wrote on Twitter, “Gurgaon’s Sadar Bazaar Gurudwara is now open for our Muslim brothers to offer their daily namaz keeping in mind the recent events that took place in the city.”
And then he also talked about the threats that Hindu extremists were hurling at him and his family. He wrote, “You may give me countless death threats, abuse and troll me and my family but humanity will always prevail. Will always stand up for truth and sewa.”
The Gurdwara Singh Sabha Committee, which runs five gurdwaras in Gurugram, says it will ask the local authorities to allow Muslims to offer their prayers in these gurdwaras. Committee member Harry Sandhu said it was unfortunate that Muslims were not being allowed to offer their prayers at the open places.
