The Bangladesh Cricket Team chose to offer Friday namaz at the Radisson hotel instead of going to Moti Masjid on the eve of the India vs Bangladesh 1st Test in Gwalior. The worship place is just 3 kilometers away from the hotel, and security arrangements for their visit were already made, but they chose to stay back.
“We had made elaborate security arrangements around Moti Masjid, but the Bangladesh team did not turn up. No organisation had given any call to disrupt their visit,” Gwalior Zone Inspector General Arvind Saxena told PTI.
Threats of Gwalior ‘bandh’
The cancellation comes after Hindu Mahasabha called from a ‘bandh’ on the match day (October 6) owing to violence against Hindus in Bangladesh amid the civil unrest. Due to the threat by the organisation, 1600 personnel were deployed for the safety and security of the teams, with just 200 policemen stationed at the Radisson hotel.
However, despite that, the Bangladesh team chose to offer namaz at their hotel. The Bangladesh management decided to call a ‘Shahar Qazi’ (the city’s top Muslim cleric) to the hotel instead of travelling to the Moti Masjid.
“The decision to skip the mosque visit might have been taken at the team’s management level. Providing security to the visiting team over just 3 km was never an issue from our side,” the official added.
It can’t be confirmed whether the Bangladesh management decided to skip the visit due to fear of personal safety or to cut down on travel as the Shrimant Madhav Rao Scindia Cricket Stadium is 23 kilometers away from their hotel.
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