A minister in the Yogi Adityanath government has suggested that Muslims cover themselves with tarpaulin while stepping out of their homes to offer Friday prayers during Holi, days after the chief minister made a similar communally loaded statement.
Raghuraj Singh, minister of state for labour and employment, told reporters in Aligarh on Tuesday: “Those who wear white skullcaps should put on a piece of tarpaulin on Holi if they want to go out of their homes for Friday prayers. Those who want to offer namaz on that day can avoid colours only by doing so. Those who play Holi can’t measure how far their colour will go. By wearing tarpaulin, the Muslims can save themselves from the Holi colours.”
Going a step forward, the BJP MLA of Bansdih in Ballia district, Ketakee Singh, said a few hours later: “I demand that Maharajji (Adityanath) build a separate ward for Muslims in the under-construction medical college here. They have a problem playing Holi with us. Maybe they have problems receiving treatment on the premises where Hindus are treated.”
Several BJP leaders, including Adityanath, have over the past few days been spewing communal venom at Muslims over Holi, although none from the minority community has expressed any apprehension over the festival of colours coinciding with Ramzan-time Jumma Namaz. Most of the senior Muslim clerics in the heartland have already made it clear that there is no conflict between the two communities over the celebration of Holi and the offering of Jumma Namaz on the same day.
Three days ago, Anuj Chaudhary, a circle officer of Sambhal town where a mosque has landed at the centre of a bitter tussle over claims that it was built by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb by demolishing a temple, had said: “Jumma (Friday) comes 52 times in a year but Holi comes only once. Those who have a problem with the colours of Holi should stay indoors and offer namaz there only.”
The police officer had made the comment despite some clerics in Sambhal declaring that the Muslims would shift the time of their Jumma Namaz from 1pm to 2pm so that the Holi celebrations can go on unhindered.
The chief minister threw his weight behind the cop and said in an interview two days ago: “Holi comes once in a year but Jumma Namaz is offered every Friday. Therefore, Jumma Namaz can be postponed. If anybody wants to offer Friday prayers, he can do so at home. It is not necessary for them to go to a mosque. Or they shouldn’t avoid the colours if they are intending to go (to a mosque).”
Adityanath made light of the police officer’s comments. “The officer is a former wrestler and he speaks like this only,” the chief minister said, adding that he was happy some clerics had pushed back the namaz time by an hour.
On Monday, Bihar BJP MLA Hari Bhushan Thakur Bachaul had asked Muslims to “stay indoors” on Holi instead of coming out to offer Friday prayers if they wanted to keep away from colours.
Muslims consider Jumma Namaz in the month of Ramzan more important than the prayers offered on other Fridays.
Khalid Rashid Firangimahli, a Sunni cleric, said: “Let us offer Friday prayers at 2pm or later this Friday. By that time Hindus will have stopped playing with colours. Those who want to offer namaz in mosques should go to the one nearest their homes.”
Maulana Saif Abbas Naqvi, the president of the Shia Chand Committee, told reporters in Lucknow on Tuesday that there was no conflict over the issue.
“Concerned over certain vicious comments, I had sought the view of Ayatollah Syed Sistani, a noted cleric of Iraq. He has sent a fatwa to my counsel, Syed Ashraf Ali, that Muslims should offer prayers after 2pm if there is any apprehension,” Naqvi said.
Various Hindutva groups in western Uttar Pradesh have claimed that they have been taking out processions on Holi every year and will continue the “tradition” this year as well. However, political observers said there was no such tradition in any district of Uttar Pradesh except Shahjahanpur.
“People play Holi across north India but they don’t take out any procession except in Shahjahanpur. The Hindutva groups are trying to start a new tradition. Hindus celebrate with colours and visit friends and family on Holi; they don’t have time that day to take out processions,” a political analyst said.
“In Shahjahanpur, locals select a man as Laalsahab (royal chief) to lead the procession, which crisscrosses the city. It so happened a few years ago that some anti-social elements in the procession threw colours at a mosque. Since then, the local administration has been covering the front of the mosques in Shahjahanpur with tarpaulin on Holi,” he added.