Congress faction slams Uddhav govt's guidelines on Bakri Eid; demand urgent meeting

Ahead of Bakri Eid or Eid al-Adha, a section of Congress leaders from Maharashtra have written to CM Uddhav Thackeray over the guidelines issued by the state for celebrating the festival. CM Thackeray had suggested that the upcoming festival should be celebrated in a simple and if possible "symbolic" manner in view of the Coronavirus pandemic. 

Former minister and Congress leader Naseem Khan, whose party is a part of Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition government in the state with the Shiv Sena and the NCP, has written to the Chief Minister to call an urgent meeting of ministers to review the guidelines.

'Call for an urgent meeting'

"Our main objection is on two points. First, Qurbani cannot be done symbolically and it is impractical for most people to buy goats online. There is no concept of symbolic sacrifice of animals in Islam and goats are bought after checking their size and health conditions which is not possible online. The government must issue fresh guidelines as present guidelines interfere in the religious affairs of Muslims," a report quoted Khan as saying. 

"We want the government to rethink and call for an urgent meeting. This has hurt sentiments," the Congress leader said. Party MLA Amin Patel has also objected on the guidelines demanding the Thackeray government to issue new ones.

As per the guidelines, people have been asked to offer Namaz at home instead of mosques and also purchase sacrificial animals online or over the phone. The state government had also appealed that "Qurbani" or ritual animal sacrifice preferably be done symbolically.

AIMIM MP slams Maharashtra govt

Similarly, All India Majalis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) MP Imtiaz Jaleel, last week, slammed the Maharashtra government's guidelines for the festival and demanded that temporary markets be set up for the occasion. 

"The state government should explain to us what it means by ''symbolic'' sacrifice. The state government cannot dictate our festivals now. Moreover, when everything else is getting unlocked, why are places of worship still shut?" Jaleel asked. "The state government should allow temporary markets. People will take precautions and maintain social distancing," he said, after a meeting with the Aurangabad police commissioner. 

The festival falls on August 1.

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Maharashtra COVID-19 crisis

Meanwhile, Maharashtra on Sunday reported 9,431 fresh COVID-19 cases taking the state's Coronavirus cases tally to 3,75,799, said the state health department. As per the bulletin released by the state health department, there are currently 1,48,601 active cases.

With 6,044 patients discharged on Sunday, the total number of discharged patients in the state rises to 2,13,238. The COVID-19 recovery rate in the state stands at 56.74 per cent. As many as 267 deaths due to COVID-19 were reported in Maharashtra on Sunday, taking the total deaths to 13,656.

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(With agency inputs)