Shops cannot be forced to shut down: Delhi mayors on Gurugram incident

Various meat shop owners in the national capital "shut" their businesses on their own during the Navratri festival to "respect the sentiments of the Hindu community", mayors of BJP-led north and east Delhi corporations Monday claimed. North Delhi Mayor Adesh Gupta and East Delhi Mayor Bipin Bihari Singh, however, both asserted that Delhi is a peaceful city and concurred that "shops cannot be forced to shut".

"What happened in Gurgaon was wrong and not the right way to deal with the issue. In Delhi, however, people either close shops out of respect for sentiments of the Hindu community during Navratri or do so when requested," Singh said. Their remarks come two days after Hindu Sena activists were arrested for allegedly forcing meat shop owners to shut their businesses in view of the Navratri festival, police said Sunday.

Over 200 Hindu Sena activists Saturday marched towards many places in Gurgaon, including Palam Vihar, Badshahpur and Om Vihar, and forcibly shut 250 meat shops, a senior police official said. East Delhi has a slaughterhouse in Ghazipur and there are various meat shops in the trans-Yamuna localities.

In north Delhi, areas like Jama Masjid have several meat shops. "People or some local councillors either request shop owners to close during the festival or some do it on their own out of respect for sentiments of the Hindu community. But aggressive methods should never be resorted to," Gupta said.

"The Hindu organisations would continue with their efforts throughout Navaratri as the opening of meat shops during the festival could hurt religious sentiments of Hindus," Ritu Raj, president of Hindu Sena, had said.

(With inputs from agencies.)