Ayodhya verdict: Bhagalpur residents bat for social harmony

BHAGALPUR: It was on October 26, 1989 when a ‘Ramshila’ procession organized by Vishwa Hindu Parishad to collect bricks for the proposed Ram Temple at Ayodhya had led to violence in several areas of Bhagalpur. Three decades on and the Supreme Court verdict out on the Ram Janmabhoomi case, residents of the silk city of Bihar with many weavers’ colonies on Saturday welcomed the decision and appealed to each other to maintain communal harmony.
Many denizens have posted popular Bollywood film Sholay’s song ‘Yeh dosti hum nahin todengey ...’ to underline the importance of brotherhood and close association with people from different religious faiths.
Syed Zeejah Hussain, a PhD scholar, entrepreneur and social activist, said the unanimous Supreme Court decision should be positively acknowledged. “It should not be construed as a ‘win’ or ‘defeat’ for anyone. Most important is to maintain communal harmony, spread goodwill and brotherhood,” said Hussain, who is also the secretary of district Shia Waqf Committee at Bhagalpur.
Alim Ansari, member of Bihar Bunkar Kalyan Samiti, said the biggest religion is humanity, social and communal harmony. Referring to diverse religious faiths flourishing in India, Ansari said: “We should and must live like ‘guldasta’ (bouquet) in the country.”
Orthopaedic surgeon Dr Imtiazur Rehman said it is a unanimous decision of the court and has no grudge against this verdict. He advocated for social harmony.
Digambar Jain Temple general secretary Sumit Jain said: “We are citizen of a country where satya and ahimsa (truth and non-violence) are followed and hence communal harmony is our first faith.”
Father Andreyas Marandi (incharge of Christian Chancery at Bhagalpur), Father Augustin Tuddu, Father James Abraham, Sardar Yashpal Singh of Gurdwara Committee Bhagalpur, Trilocahn Singh, Harvinder Singh, Harpal Kaur and others from Sikh community besides Pappu Rajan and others from Jain and Sindhi communities said humanity and brotherhood is foremost and all should respect the Supreme Court verdict.
Bhagalpur mayor Seema Saha said the verdict is based on scientific analysis of the archaeological findings and everyone should honour it.
Meanwhile, the district administrations of Bhagalpur and Banka besides Naugachia police district made elaborate security arrangements and are keeping a tab on rumourmongers in the backdrop of alert sounded in the state.
DIG Vikas Vaibhav said police were keeping a close vigil besides making elaborate security arrangement in this division. “We are also keeping a watch on social media posts and WhatsApp groups and no one would be allowed to spread rumour or hatred in the society,” he said.