Muslims in a town in West Bengal, raised money to build a temple that had come in way of road widening.
They also purchased the land for relocating the temple and then helped reconstruct the Kali temple for the Hindu community.
This is another of the umpteen beautiful stories about harmony we get to know from the ground, far away from the discord that is visible on social media or the hate on TV channels.
The cleric, Nasiruddin, a Maulvi, was present when the temple was reconstructed. This happened in Basapura in Nanoor, which is 160 kms from Kolkata (Calcutta), mentions Koushik Dutta, in his report in Hindustan Times.
“I have inaugurated mosques and madrasas. But this is the first time I have inaugurated a Hindu temple. It’s a different feeling altogether,” Mandal said, in the report published on October 29, 2019. Out of Rs 10 lakh that was collected, nearly 7 lakh was contributed by Muslims, temple puja committee's Sunil Saha was quoted in the report.
“The temple was demolished for widening a road that was an urgent need of the locals. The temple was about 30 years old and devotees regularly came here,” Nikhil Bhattacharya, a resident said.
“If local Muslims did not help us, organising the puja and rebuilding the temple would not have been possible. So we invited Nasiruddin Mandal to inaugurate the temple on Sunday evening,” said Saha further in the report.
The report also mentions incidents like how Mohammad Faruq, a 58-year-old resident of Dubrajpur area in Birbhum district, donated land for setting up a crematorium for Hindus. The land that he gave had a market value of about Rs 10 lakh.
And also the incident when a Muharram committee of Kharagpur town in West Midnapore district decided not to organise Tajia, and instead, gave the money to a Hindu cancer patient for his treatment in the year 2017.
In the same year, when no drum beater turned up to perform at a Tajia in Muharram in Suvur village of Bhatar area of East Burdwan district, the dhakis at the Durga Puja in the village replaced them.
In another incident in November 2017, a group of Muslims came forward to fund the wedding of a Hindu woman in Khanpur village of Malda district, when her family could not afford it.
Clearly, it's all so common but this doesn't get to headlines and TV channels keep raising the communal temperature, creating an image as if the communities are always fighting or at logger-heads. Photo courtesy [Pexels.com]
[Harmony exists all around us but is often ignored. Instead, stories of hate, discord and communalism get spread easily.
There are a million examples in our daily lives across India but they don't get promoted, hence, news of hate and discord gets heard more. Let's change it, now. This is a small attempt to change it through Communal Harmony Project]
For reading similar reports on this blog, Click the link HERE and also find out more about Communal Harmony Project]
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