Lakhs of Muslims trooped out on the roads after the customary Friday afternoon 'namaaz' in Aurangabad, Solapur, Raigad, Ahmednagar, Thane, Parbhani, Beed, Jalna and other places in Maharashtra protesting against the anti-Prophet Mohammed remarks of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokespersons recently.
The protesters peacefully marched outside the mosques on the roads, shouted slogans against the two BJP spokespersons Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal, demanded their immediate arrest and condemned the Central government.
In some places, the marchers halted and burnt photos or effigies of the BJP spokespersons who recent utterances have been condemned by many Arab and Muslim countries worldwide.Several organisations and political parties including All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and local groups organised what were described as 'spontaneous protests' by the outraged Muslims after offering the Friday afternoon prayers.
In Aurangabad, AIMIM MP Syed Imtiaz Jaleel joined the protests, plunging headlong into the crowd of several thousands of Muslims without his security personnel around as many raised slogans against the Sharma-Jindal duo.
During the protests, most shops remained shut in these towns, road traffic was paralysed to make way for the marchers but there were no reports of any untoward incidents from anywhere.State Home Minister Dilip Walse-Patil reviewed the situation after the massive state-wide protests against Sharma-Jindal and appealed to the people to maintain calm and avoid creating any law-and-order problems.
He added that the state government has taken very serious cognisance of the BJP duo's statements and police have lodged complaints against them which are being probed.Nupur Sharma is facing an FIR registered by Mumbra Police of Thane on June 7 and the police have summoned her for questioning in the matter of blasphemy targetting the Prophet Mohammed on June 22.
Similarly, the Bhiwandi Police in Thane have lodged a FIR against Jindal on June 4 and he has been summoned for questioning on June 15, while a separate complaint has been registered by the NGO Raza Academy against Sharma at the same police station.
With alerts out late on Thursday, police were present in strength in the three cities and also were on watch outside thousands of mosques elsewhere in the state especially Muslim-dominated towns, and the massive crowds dispersed peacefully after a couple of hours.