CHANDIGARH: The ongoing row over Muslims offering namaz at public places in Gurugram reached a new high on Monday after a Hindu outfit offered ghar wapsi to the members of the minority community.
Mahaveer Bhardwaj, chairman of Sanyukt Hindu Sangharsh Samiti, said they have offered ghar wapsi to the Muslim community. “Many Hindus had been converted into Islam in the past. If any Muslim brother is ready and wants to return to the Hindu religion we will facilitate their return and welcome them. They will be inducted in their ancestral castes and given the same social respect and relations,” Bhardwaj said, adding “they (the returnees) will have no dearth of places to worship”.
Meanwhile, members of the Muslim community demanded intervention of the authorities before the situations turns volatile. Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar had recently said his government would not allow namaz in open areas.
“When the CM said that namaz would not be allowed in the open, what else do you expect? An amicable solution should be reached at the earliest, and we should be allowed to use public spaces as we do not have enough mosques in city,” said a Muslim leader.
There are 13 mosques in Gurugram that can accommodate around 5,000. Even though there are many properties of the Waqf Board in the area, most of them are under either encroachment or litigation.
In 2016, the India Islamic Research Center (IIRC) and the Muslim Minority Trust had applied for allotment of land parcels for constructing mosques in the area to the Haryana government but failed to get any allotment. Two months ago the IIRC applied for allotment of a plot in Sector 39 in response to an advertisement issued by the Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) but no decision has been taken in this regard.