Muslims offering namaz on the occasion of Id at Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata on Thursday morning.
| Photo Credit: Shrabana Chatterjee
Kolkata’s Id-ul-Azha celebrations this year were marked by a major shift in venue, moving from the traditional Red Road to the Brigade Parade Ground for the morning prayers. The festival also witnessed no public slaughter of animals after a May 13 notification by the West Bengal government banned the same.
Trinamool Congress MLA from Kasba constituency, Javed Khan, visited the Brigade Ground to offer his prayers on Id-ul-Azha on Thursday (May 28, 2026) morning. “None of us is outside the law. We are all citizens here. Have to abide by whatever law the current government passes,” Mr. Khan said about the venue shifting.
Mallick Md. Ishak, joint secretary, Calcutta Khilafat Committee, the organisers of the Id namaz offerings at the Brigade Ground, told The Hindu that they were happy to offer namaz at the new venue. “We happily read the namaz here. We are thankful to the administration and police for helping us organise and shift the venue here,” Mr. Ishak said.
Hundreds gathered on the ground early on Thursday, May 28, 2026, in crisp white clothes to offer their prayers.
| Photo Credit:
Shrabana Chatterjee
Hundreds gathered on the ground early on Thursday in crisp white clothes to offer their prayers.
“We are happy with the arrangements made here. The Brigade Parade Ground is a historic place where many important figures have walked. We feel lucky to be here to offer our namaz. But we also wish to say that there should be no partiality and discrimination against us based on religion,” a man who had come to offer namaz said. He added that people of other religions are allowed to conduct their festivities on roads, while restrictions are being imposed on his community specifically.
On Id-ul-Azha, usually cattle sacrifices events are held across Kolkata. However, this year, no such event was witnessed after animal slaughter was banned in the State without proper certificate for slaughter from a veterinary doctor and government authorities. The animal has to be above the age of 14 and declared fit for slaughter and then it can be permitted for consumption.
“An animal, in respect of which a certificate has been issued, shall be slaughtered only in a Municipal Slaughter House or any other Slaughter House identified by the local administration; Slaughtering of animals, for which a certificate has been issued, shall be strictly prohibited in any open public place,” the State government notification had stated on May 13. It also warned that anyone who fails to abide by these rules may be jailed for up to six months and fined ₹1,000.
Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee and general secretary Abhishek Banerjee offered their Id greetings on their social media.
Morning namaz was moved from Red Road to Brigade Parade Ground this year.
| Photo Credit:
Shrabana Chatterjee
Curbs on celebrations
Leading up to this Id, West Bengal saw many new rules and regulations around festivities that brought restrictions for Muslims celebrating Id.
Due to fear of backlash, the sale of cows in wholesale markets across the State went down drastically. As most of the cow owners in Bengal are Hindus, who rear them for milk, there was major distress among them — many of whom complained about mounting debts with no option to sell their cows.
“These cows do not produce milk after six years. How can we keep feeding the cows for eight years when it serves us no purpose? Muslims are now refusing to buy cows from us, we are in deep trouble. We have taken lakhs in loan to buy these cows because this is a business. Once the milk dries up, we sell it to our Muslim brothers during Bakri-Eid,” a cow owner said.
In many places, imams of mosques requested the Muslim community to refrain from eating beef to avoid any conflict. Beef sales in shops also reduced dramatically. Many restaurants that are famous for their beef dishes also hung up “no beef” signs on their doors and took beef dishes off the menu.
On May 11, Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Arjun Singh stated that no namaz offerings would be allowed on roads. “Loudspeakers and roadside namaz will not be allowed. They can offer namaz in mosques. Why block roads?” Mr. Singh had said.
Published – May 28, 2026 09:26 pm IST
