A day after the Gurudwara Singh Sabha Committee of Gurugram announced that it was opening its doors to the Muslim community, offering them space to offer Friday Namaz prayers in the Gurudwara, the committee had today gone back on its decision. It stated that due to the Gurupurab celebrations, the Gurudwara will be overcrowded, making it impossible to accommodate Muslims for Friday Namaz.
OpIndia had been trying to get in touch with the Gurdwara Singh Sabha Committee members to obtain a statement on the matter. Finally, we managed to get in touch with Sherdil Singh Sidhu, the President of Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha.
Below is the exclusive conversation we had with the president of the committee who had offered the space for Namaz to the Gurugram Muslims. ‘Q’ denotes the questions we asked him and ‘A’ is for the answers that were provided.
The conversation OpIndia had with Gurugram Gurudwara Singh Sabha Committee president Sherdil Singh Sidhu
Q: Space in the Gurudwara could not be made available today for Muslims to offer Namaz. Is there any plan to give them space in future?
A: When they ask for the place for Namaz, then the Gurudwara committee will sit and decide.
Q: Does that mean the committee has not taken any such decision yet but you had offered the space from your side?
A: My words were intended to be a statement of brotherhood. I had said that we can offer them space in case they ask for it. I had said that if they ask us for the space on Friday, then the committee will take a call and the decision will come only by next to next Friday. The rest of the Muslims brothers do not even want to offer Namaz in the Gurudwara. They came to tell us that they had performed Namaz in the hearts of Sikhs today.
Q: Meaning, they did not ask for the space from you?
A: No, they came to me yesterday and asked if they could read it here if they had any difficulties offering Namaz on Friday (today), to which I replied that if that happened, they may read it here.
Q: What is the name of your Gurudwara of which you are a member?
A: Gurdwara Guru Singh Sabha, Sadar Bazar, Gurugram.
Q: Has Namaz ever been offered in this Gurudwara before this?
A: No, never before.
Q: Some people like Sirsa Ji (Manjinder Singh Sirsa, the outgoing president of the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee and an Akali Dal leader) of your own community are opposing your statement. What would you say about that?
A: I just told them offhandedly. The ultimate decision would be taken by the committee and the Sangat only.
Q: If they again raise a similar demand, would you reconsider giving them space for Namaz?
A: Yes definitely, we will consider. You see, the media has a habit of twisting statements.
Q: What was the reason for not allowing Namaz to take place in the Gurudwara today, Gurupurab celebrations or something else?
A: Sir, they do not want to offer Nazmaz prayers in the Gurudwara premises. Had they wanted, they would have come today.
Q: Was the Gurudwara committee, along with you, willing to allow them to offer Namaz on the Gurudwara grounds if they arrived today?
A: Oh no. I’m speaking generally. The Gurudwara committee was not ready.
Q: Have they (Muslims) sought space in your Gurudwara to offer Namaz until now?
A: So far, no such demand has been made. My committee has a large number of members. The decision that they reach unanimously will be the final decision of the committee.
Q: Anything else you would like to say?
A: Yes, the Gurudwara is the home of the Guru. Hindus can also come here to pay their respects, so can Muslims. If 8-10 Muslims come to the Gurudwara to pay obeisance and listen to our Shabad Gurbani Kirtan, but people say they are offering Namaz here, then that is not correct.
Sherdil Singh Sidhu and a tale of U-Turns
It may be noted that Sherdil Singh Sidhu is the same person who had offered the Gurugram Muslims space to offer Friday Namaz prayers in the Gurudwara.
Yesterday (November 18, Thursday), news agency ANI quoted Sherdil Singh Sidhu as saying: “It’s ‘Guru Ghar’, open for all communities with no discrimination. There shouldn’t be any politics here. Basement is now open for Muslim brothers who want to offer ‘Jumme ki namaz’.”
According to ANI, Sindhu had further said: “If there’s an open space, Muslims should be allowed to offer namaz… and we shouldn’t fight over such petty issues. People who were offering namaz in open sought administration’s permission and those who had problem should have approached admin before attacking them.”
Some Sikhs had also raised questions asking when there are so many mosques in Gurugram, why do Muslims need to pray inside a Sikh Gurudwara. However, a day after, the Gurudwara committee went back on its decision citing Gurupurab as the reason for being unable to offer space to the Muslim community.
It may be noted that the residents in several sectors in Gurugram have been protesting peacefully against members of the community blocking public spaces for Namaz, asking why can’t they do it in mosques. The residents have, however, faced police action and severe condemnation by the ‘secular-liberal’ media, all because they raised their voices against public spaces being misused for the religious prayers of a particular community.
Meanwhile, the offers by the Gurudwara and Akshay Yadav, the Hindu businessman who had earlier offered his shop in Sector 12 to Muslims to offer their Friday namaz, have been highlighted and hailed in media and social media as a heartwarming example of tolerance and brotherhood, the kind of ‘secular’ opium that the Indian media and intelligentsia often sells to market their rainbow dreams. However, after much publicity, the Gurudwara does not appear to have made their space available for Namaz.