The faithful will not be able to celebrate the Feast of Sacrifice in public spaces
Concern among Indian Muslims who do not know whether they will be able to celebrate the prayers of Eid al Adha, the festival of Sacrifice, which begins tomorrow in India. Last week the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, a Hindu extremist group aligned with the BJP, Prime Minister Modi’s party, called for a nationwide ban on street and square prayers, calling the practice “a show of strength” by Muslim communities.
The Prime Minister of the state of Uttar Pradesh, the extremist Hindu monk Yogi Adityanath, followed this request by announcing that prayers in the state he governs, where 39 million Muslims live, will have to be celebrated in “shifts”. Posting on
In recent years, “the other methods” have resulted in police raids who forcibly chased away those who prayed outdoors, and demolitions of the homes of those who had broken the rules.
For their part, Muslims explain that they have no alternatives, given that mosques and other spaces dedicated to rituals are not large enough to accommodate all the faithful, especially in the most populated urban areas. In an investigation published in Al Jazeera, many faithful declared that “what was once a peaceful family celebration has turned into a day of restlessness and tension”.
