Holi comes once a year, Friday Namaz 52 times: Sambhal cop's remarks spark row

A peace committee meeting was held on Thursday at the Sambhal Kotwali police station in view of the upcoming Holi festival, which coincides with Friday prayers during the holy month of Ramzan.

Lucknow: A senior Uttar Pradesh police official asked Muslims in Sambhal, which was witness to large scale violence during a survey of a mosque last year in which four persons had lost their lives, to remain indoors on the Holi day if they (Muslims) felt their religious sentiments were hurt by colours.

Circle officer (CO) of Sambhal Anuj Chaudhary made these remarks while speaking to the reporters in Sambhal on Thursday after a meeting of the Peace Committee.

‘’Holi saal mein ek baar aati hai...juma (Friday) saal mein 52 baar aata hai....agar kisi Muslim ko lagta hai ki Holi ka rang padne se uska dharm brashta hota hai to woh us din ghar se na nikle’’(Holi is celebrated only once in a year while Juma comes every Friday....if the Muslims think that the Holi colours hurt their religious sentiments then they should remain indoors on that day), Chaudhary said.

He said that Muslims should show ‘big heart’ and should not feel bad if someone sprinkled colours on him on the Holi day. Chaudhary, however, also asked the Hindu community to ensure that they did not sprinkle Holi colours on anyone who did not like it.

This year the Holi festival will be celebrated on March 14, which is a Friday. Muslims hold ‘juma’ prayers on Fridays.

The official said that a meeting of the Peace Committee was held on Thursday in which the members of both Hindu and Muslim communities took part. He said that stern action would be taken against anyone who tried to disrupt communal harmony.

Senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader and MP from Sambhal Zia-ur-Rehman Burq accused the police officials of ‘intimidating’ the Muslims and sought action against such officials. ‘’We are being threatened in the meetings of the Peace Committee...Muslims should boycott such meetings,’’ he added.