After the Maharashtra government announced guidelines for Eid-al-Adha or Bakra Eid, Samajwadi Party (SP) leaders Abu Asim Azmi and Rais Shaikh met Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar to express their displeasure over the same and demanded that the issue be resolved.
The Bakra Eid will be celebrated on August 1 and Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had earlier urged the Muslim community to celebrate the festival symbolically and in a simple manner.
The Maharashtra government released guidelines for the same suggesting that people offer prayers at home instead of mosques and purchase animals for “sacrifice” or ‘Qurbani’ online or over the phones as the markets will remain shut to avoid crow gathering amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The Muslims leaders in the state turned to Pawar for help. In order to resolve the issue, the NCP chief on July 27 informed that a meeting with Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat and Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh will be fixed.
However, as per the media reports, the issues have not been resolved as the trucks carrying goats or sacrificial animals are being stopped by the police which will cause hindrance in performing the ritual of animal sacrifice.
In the meeting with Pawar, Thorat, Deshmukh, Nawab Malik, Congress’ Naseem Khan and several officials, the Muslim leaders demanded relaxation of guidelines regarding transportation and ‘Qurbani’ saying that the social distancing protocol will be followed during the celebrations.
Earlier, Naseem Khan had written to the Chief Minister demanding permission to celebrate Bakra Eid with conditions and urged the Maharashtra government to allow markets to open for purchasing animals to conduct ‘Qurbani’.
However, Azmi earlier warned of a protest against the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government if the relaxations for transportation of sacrificial animals are not provided. It is to be noted that SP supports the three-party alliance in Maharashtra.
Share
Tweet
