Hyderabad: Owaisi Urges Muslims For Eid Prayers at Home

Hyderabad: Asaduddin Owaisi, the AIMIM Chief, and Hyderabad MP, has asked Muslims to pray at home this Eid owing to the lockdown across Telangana, which began on Tuesday to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Owaisi took to Twitter to urge Muslims to follow covid protocols during prayers.

To combat the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the state government has banned mass prayers and gatherings.

Owaisi said in a tweet, "In light of the lockdown, I appeal to the people of the Muslim community to offer prayers at their homes for the holy Ramzan festival."

During the festival, he also recommended strict adherence to the Covid-19 protocols. The holy Ramzan festival will take place on May 14 in India, depending on when the moon is visible.

The state-wide lockdown started on Tuesday and will last for ten days.

The MIM chief had previously urged Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and Minister of Information Technology and Municipalities KT Rama Rao not to extend the state's lockdown. The working class and small traders, he said, would be particularly hard hit by the lockdown. He went on to say that it would rob the poor and the daily wage workers of their jobs and livelihood.

The MIM leader also urged the government to extend the night curfew to 10 p.m. rather than 8 p.m. and to grant certain exceptions during the Ramadan festival and prayers.