‘We close meat shops every year, it’s nothing new’

‘SHIV SENA’ NOTICE TO GURGAON SHOP OWNERS

A DAY after a group of men — claiming they were affiliated with the Shiv Sena — fanned out across Old Gurgaon and “requested” owners of chicken and other meat shops to remain closed for the next nine days in honour of Navratri, a narrow lane in Jacobpura, lined with meat and chicken shops on either side, remained empty on Wednesday.

Shutters of all shops were lowered and a handful of men could be seen sitting outside playing cards.

The notice dated March 28, “notifies” all chicken shop owners to keep theirshopsclosedduringnavratriand every Tuesday. It said, “If this is not done, an investigation will be conducted by police as well as social organisations.” It is signed by Rohtas Yadav, allegedly the Shiv Sena district secretary.

Gurgaon Police, however, distanced themselves from the parties’ claim that they are party to this. PRO Manish Sehgal said, “We are not involved in this drive at all. If any complaint is filed about people coercing shop owners to shut shop, we will conduct an investigation.”

Confirming this, Commissioner of Police Sandeep Khirwar said, “This notice has been put up and circulated without our knowledge. We are getting it removed. We will also question party workers before deciding a course of action.”

Meanwhile, owners said the closure of shops during this time of the year is “very normal” for them.

Pulling out the notice from his pocket, Tarun Kumar, one of the owners, said, “There is a temple nearby... We too are Hindus, so we keep our shops closed during Navratri and other such festivals. This happens every year; it is nothing new.”

The notice asks all chicken shop owners to keep their shops closed during Navratri, and every Tuesday

However,hedidadmitthatthisis the first time members of a party have taken to the streets to ensure shop owners comply.

Parvesh Kumar, who has owned a shop in the area for 40 years, said, “The party cadre came here for the first time, but we are not afraid. We own these shops; they cannot decide what we should do.however, there was no confrontation regarding the matter since we had voluntarily closed our shops.”

However, 500 metres away from Jacobpura, in a lane adjoining the Sadar Bazaar Masjid, close to 10 mutton and chicken shops owned by Muslims allegedly had to close because of the group. “We are closed each year but Muslim owners work even in the festival season. This year, though, they had to close their shops because of the Sena,” Kumar said.

This claim, however, is contradicted by owners in Sadar Bazaar who said they decided to close their shopsoutofa“senseofbrotherhood” and not because of the Shiv Sena.

“We close our shops every year during Navratri. There is no coercion. The party workers cooperated with us, and we cooperated with them. The same applies to the Hindus,” said Mohammad Tahir Qureshi, who has been running his shop for 30 years.

Theallegedsenaofficials,tuesday, claimed they have ensured over 500 shopsacrossoldgurgaon,includinga Kfcoutletinsector14,stayshutduring Navratri. Staff at the outlet, however, saidtheyclosedforonly“abouthalfan hour” and were open on Wednesday.