Hadapsar sees Hindu-Muslim unity

In the backdrop of the recent communal clashes in Hadapsar, the Hindus and Muslims in a major interfaith initiative have come up with the idea of protecting each other's places of worship. The Hindus of the area have taken the responsibility to protect the Muslim mosques and shrines while the Muslims have taken the responsibility of protecting the temples.

To overcome the issue, the police along with the local residences and community had together formed a peace committee which later was bifurcated into "Almagira Masjid defence committee" and Ram-Hanuman Temple Defence committee " with the sole objective to spread the message of peace and harmony. Now, both the communities have taken the onus of protecting each other's places of worship and vowed to protect them till the last breath of their lives.

Real estate Amit Dhabhade (31), a resident of Handewadi said, "It's a good initiative and I do not understand why there is always a discrimination between two communities and why religious places are targeted. God is one and his place of residence is a temple, mosque , church or any other religious place. On Fridays, we along with police patrol around the mosques in the area and also keep a vigil on the anti-social elements, traffic jams and honking," he said adding that it was his duty to protect Muslim mosques with he being a true Hindu.

Ejaz Pathan (30), a resident of Sayeed Nagar and a businessman said that the misunderstanding has been caused due to vested interests. "As muslims it is our farz to protect our Hindu neighbours and protect their temples in Muslim dominated areas. We have taken an oath to protect the life and property of our Hindu brothers and ensure that divisive forces are booted out of the society," he said.

A month of chaos and misunderstanding between the two communities had let to panic atmosphere in Hadapsar after defamatory SMSes related to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and late Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray were circulated on social networking sites and social messengers.

Additional commissioner of police (North region) Prakash Mutyal said, "Two committees have been formed in each committee there will be 30 youths. As a part of the cultural exchange, we have made Hindu youths to take care of muslims and protect their mosques while the muslims will look after Hindus," he said.

Manoj Patil, deputy commissioner of police (Zone IV) lauded the initiative and said that it was example of perfect Hindu -Muslim unity. "We need to understand that it one of the most important development in the city aimed at strengthening the secular credentials of the society. Punekars should take a cue from both the communities and spread the message far and wide," he said.