Neil Wilby Media

A leading Tameside-based gay rights campaigner, Raja Miah, has told followers of his disgraced and frequently banned Recusant Nine Facebook page that he intends to be present at Oldham’s ‘Eid in the Park’ celebrations on 28th and 29th June, 2023.

The notorious, Bradford-born conspiracy theorist, currently on both police and magistrates’ court conditional bail and, over which, he denies wrongdoing, is, he says, targeting the presence at the event of one of the Borough’s three Members of Parliament, against whom he has waged a five year vendetta:

“If it is true that JIM McMAHON has been invited then it shows at least in part what this event is really about. And I can confirm, if McMAHON is going then so will I. I’m so going to enjoy my samosas this Eid”.

In his typical enigmatic, fact-free style, the unemployed samosa nibbler doesn’t articulate what he thinks the event is about, other than a postponed, and therefore belated, community-spirited celebration of the end of Ramadan, organised enthusiastically and, to the objective observer, with the very best of intentions.

But it is appears that he intends to use it as a further opportunity to harass the MP for Oldham West and Royton and to cause trouble for the Muslims wishing to pray and celebrate peacefully. It is not a day for Miah to broadcast his nonsense about the Borough Council being run by mythical Asian Cartels, jihadists, mobsters, gangsters and goons.

During the recent local election campaign in Oldham, Miah was arrested in a dawn raid (the third on his home in the last two years) by Greater Manchester Police, following a gay rights campaigning incident outside a local mosque, over allegations of racially aggravated public order. He was later released without charge.

The Eid in the Park event is organised by SK Foundation and is expected to take place on Wednesday, 28th June, but could take place on Thursday, 29th June. The actual date is likely to be confirmed this weekend.

Hamid Ali, who lives close to Berries Field Park in Chadderton, which will host the event, has helped organise the re-arranged Eid celebration, having grown up in the area. He told a local newspaper:

“Everyone’s looking forward to it. It’s looking like it’s going to be a great gathering of the community. People were asking if we’d do it again after the cancellation, but we said we’ll come back bigger, hopefully better.

“We’ve worked really hard to make sure everything is done, everything is complete. The main thing is to unite everyone together.

“We’re ready after the disappointment of April, the community’s been waiting, we aim to deliver, to meet expectations, and we’re looking forward to it and as far as the noise that we’re hearing from the community is, the community’s waiting for it.

“We’ve got more rides, we’ve got stalls, and we’re looking to have a great event.”

Eid prayer traditionally takes place outside and similar open-air events have taken place elsewhere in the country.

Non-muslims are welcome at the celebrations but it is likely that Raja Miah’s presence is entirely incompatible with the stated aims of unity and community cohesion and, as such, he would not be welcomed. His sole aim appears to be to create discord and create a public disorder scene from which he can profit.

UPDATE: Greater Manchester Police press office and Oldham Council’s Community Safety Team have been asked to commented their replies are still awaited.

Since this article was first published last week, Raja Miah has not mentioned his intended, apparently disrespectful appearance at the Eid celebrations.

CORRECTION: Robert Cragg has kindly pointed out on the Neil Wilby Media Facebook page that Eid in the Park isn’t a postponed celebration of Eid-al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan. This event is Eid-al-Adha, a different festival marking the sacrifice of Ibrahim (Abraham).

Follow Neil Wilby on Twitter (here) and Neil Wilby Media on Facebook (here) for signposts to any updates.

Page last updated: Monday 26th June, 2023 at 13h45

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