Delhi mosques left protest decisions to worshippers, The Hindu reports

Imams at several mosques did not repeat police appeals to stay away from demonstrations against the chief election commissioner, according to the newspaper.

The Hindu reported that mosques in Old Delhi, Okhla and the capital's northeastern neighbourhoods issued no special notices about joining the October 10 protests. It described the imams' silence as leaving the decision to individual worshippers.

Police had visited religious institutions beforehand and urged people to avoid the demonstrations. Protesters were demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation and opposing the special intensive revision of electoral rolls.

At Rang Mahal Masjid, the newspaper reported normal attendance and said neither the imam nor the management committee repeated the police advice. The protests were also not mentioned in the sermon at the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind mosque.

The newspaper described the same approach in Shiv Vihar, which was hit by violence in February 2020, and nearby neighbourhoods. Mosques there neither urged worshippers to participate nor discouraged them from going.

That contrasted with religious leader Umer Ahmed Ilyasi's public appeal for Muslim youth to stay away. The absence of such appeals at the mosques covered by the report does not establish that all their worshippers joined the demonstrations.