A BJP leader heading Jammu and Kashmir’s waqf board on Sunday said no Eid prayers would be held at Srinagar’s historic Eidgah on Monday and cited the ongoing construction work as the reason.
Ironically, Darakhshan Andrabi had inaugurated a grand pulpit, built over nine months, at the Eidgah three days ago with much fanfare. Sunday’s announcement will mean that the biggest ground for Eid prayers in Kashmir will have a pulpit but not the prayers for which it is meant.
No prayers have been allowed at the Eidgah since the 2019 scrapping of special status over fears of law-and-order violation. The ban has not been lifted ahead of the first Eid under the new government headed by Omar Abdullah.
The lieutenant governor’s administration had apparently directed Andrabi to make the announcement about the Eid prayers.
On Wednesday, Andrabi had inaugurated the new pulpit at the Eidgah, which fanned hopes that prayers might be allowed this time. “A new pulpit has been built at our historic Eidgah. People should come and see its new design,” she had said.
Asked whether prayers would be allowed at the Eidgah, she had said her job was to take care of the construction and that prayers needed clearance from the administration and security agencies. “Whatever decision the government takes, we are all with it,” she had said.
The decision to inaugurate the pulpit had enraged local National Conference MLA and former Assembly Speaker Mubarak Gul. He accused Andrabi of sidelining elected legislators and “naming lower-rung officials on the name plaque of mimber (pulpit)”.
“Such unilateral actions not only violate established protocols but also disregard the sentiments of the local population,” Gul said on Saturday