NEW DELHI: At least 30 people were arrested on Friday in Gurgaon for disrupting Muslim prayer gatherings, in the latest sign of growing communal tensions in India, local media reported.
Many of those detained on Friday held up placards that read “Gurgaon administration, wake up from your sleep”, according to Indian news outlet NDTV.
Images circulating on on social media showed a group of people demanding that Muslim prayers be stopped, chanting “Jai Shri Ram” (hail Lord Ram), a rallying cry for far-right Hindu nationalists.
Hindu groups have been pressuring authorities for weeks in the northern city of Gurgaon on the outskirts of New Delhi to stop Muslims from offering Friday prayers in open spaces.
On Friday police deployed several hundred extra officers and arrested at least 30 people as crowds of locals and Hindu groups chanted slogans, the TV report stated.
Critics have accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party of persecuting minorities, including India’s 200-million-strong Muslim population, to shore up its votes.
Haryana state, of which Gurgaon is the capital, is ruled by the BJP. Such incidents have been reported in the past as well.
