At peace

A Ganesh idol is installed inside the village mosque every year for the annual festival.

In a classic example of communal harmony,members of the New Ganesh Tarun Mandal in Gotkhindi,a small village in Walwa taluka of Sangli district,have been installing the Ganesh idol inside a mosque in the village for the last 31 years.

The mandal members,both Hindus and Muslims,are also equally proud of the fact that villagers have never objected to the move. In fact,the Muslim villagers offer namaz at the mosque and then follow it up with an aarti for Lord Ganesh. Similarly,Hindus can be seen celebrating Eid with equal zest.

Subhash Thorat,one of the founders of the New Ganesh Tarun Mandal in Gotkhind says,Our village is small and in 1979,the facilities here were very limited. There was no pandal or tin shed like we see in the Ganesh festivals now. So we installed the idol out in the open. But on one of the festival days,it started raining heavily. We wanted to shift the idol to protect it from the rain. Thats when our Muslim residents came forward and asked us to shift the idol inside the mosque.

That was 31 years ago and every Ganesh Chaturthi,the idol gets installed in the mosque. Even after all these years,we dont set up a separate pandal during the festival. The move has helped strengthen Hindu-Muslim bonds in the village, says Thorat.

Gotkhindi has a population of 12,000,of which 300 are Muslims. The New Ganesh Tarun Mandal,which organises the Chaturthi celebrations,has about 125 members,of whom about 30 are Muslims.

Liyakat Jamadar,a teacher at the local high school who is also a founder-member of the Ganesh Mandal,says,We have never considered Ganesh Chaturthi as a purely Hindu festival. We collect contributions for the festival and perform the aarti. Similarly,the Hindu members of the Mandal collect contributions for Muslim festivals. Many Hindus in the village hold roza fast like us. Be it Diwali,Eid or Mahashivraatri,we celebrate all festivals together.

Jamadar says the two communities jointly organise blood donation camps,tree plantation drives,cleanliness campaigns and other public awareness functions.

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The village has never had any communal trouble,he says. Jamadar recounts how,during the communal riots in Miraj last year,Gotkhindi was untouched. In fact,when there were rumours that some anti-social elements from outside would attack the masjid in our village,the Hindus came together and guarded it, he says.

Ranjana Patil,the sarpanch of Gotkhindi says that members of both the communities live like a family in the village. We understand the importance of unity. Hence we dont react to the communal tensions in other areas, she said.