Mosques across Delhi largely declined to repeat police advice asking worshippers to stay away from protests seeking the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, leaving individuals to decide whether to participate, according to a report by The Hindu.
The report said no imam delivered a special sermon on the protests in mosques in Old Delhi, Okhla and north-east Delhi on Saturday. No circular was issued, and mosque authorities generally avoided making the issue part of Friday sermons or other religious talks.
The developments followed visits by Delhi Police personnel to several mosques on Thursday and Friday. Police personnel reportedly advised worshippers to “use their wisdom instead of being led by half-baked information” and cautioned them against attending the protests. In some instances, a policeman issued the advice near the mimbar, the place from which an imam delivers a sermon, while the imam was present.
Roshan-ud-Daula, also known as Sunehri Masjid, in Daryaganj, was among the places visited by local police. The report said the mosque did not repeat the advice on Saturday and left worshippers to decide about joining protests in and around Jantar Mantar. Dayee Masjid, Keekar Masjid and Momin Masjid followed a similar approach.
At Rang Mahal Masjid, attendance remained normal through the day. Neither the imam nor the management committee repeated the police request. The Jamaat-e-Islami Hind mosque was also visited by police on Friday morning, but its authorities did not accept the request to discourage participation. A staff member told The Hindu that people had the right to protest peacefully in a democracy and were capable of making their own decisions.
Umer Ahmed Ilyasi, chairman of the All India Imam Association, had separately advised community members to stay away from the agitation. He said certain forces were attempting to disrupt peace and urged imams to ask young people not to participate. The report said that advice was not repeated in the mosques it visited.
Iftikhar Hashmi, an Islamic scholar quoted by The Hindu, said no mosque had entered the political controversy, and that no imam had referred to the protests during the khutba or Fajr prayers. The report also described a similar situation in Shiv Vihar, Bhagirathi Vihar and Mustafabad, areas affected by the February 2020 violence.
At Chand Masjid, regular worshipper Inamur Rehman said people who wanted to join the protests were not stopped, while those who did not want to participate were not encouraged to do so. He also said some community members identified with the protesters because they believed people had been excluded from voting rights after the Special Intensive Revision began.
The report did not indicate that mosque authorities issued a coordinated response. Instead, the accounts from different parts of Delhi showed local management committees and imams choosing not to intervene in worshippers’ individual decisions.
