BHOPAL (Madhya Pradesh): Communal backlash has forced a group of youth from the city to abandon providing food items for Sehri during Ramzan to the attendants of patients in government hospitals.
Following the communal violence in Khargone, fissures developed in the group and its Hindu members refused to contribute money for the endeavour.
The youth group has been arranging Sehri for Rozedars staying in hospitals to look after their admitted family members or kin for the past six years.
The group has eight core members, six of them Hindus and two Muslims. They used to pool money among themselves to buy the necessary raw materials. Two women members of the group used to prepare food items, which were packed and delivered at 2 am for Sehri. They had divided the work of buying raw material, packing cooked food and delivering the packets among themselves.
Like in the past, they started their work from April 2, the first day of the Ramzan, this year. “Everything was fine till Ramnavmi, when communal violence broke out in Khargone,” the coordinator of the group said on condition of anonymity.
He told the Free Press that two days after the violence, four Hindu members backed out from providing their contribution and also refused to do their part of the work. “Ham hamare paise se miyan bhaiyon ko khana kyon dein. Dekho unhonein kya kiya (Why should we use our money to feed the Muslims. Look, what they have done),” the coordinator was told.
Not only that, a Hindu organisation even booked two tickets of Hindi film ‘Kashmir Files’ for the coordinator. “Go and watch the film. It will open your eyes,” he was told.
The coordinator said that a person, who described himself as a Maulana, also phoned him, asking him to stop the activity. “Tum hamari qaum ko badnaam kar rahe ho. Hamare bhaiyon ka roza kharab kar rahe ho (You are giving a bad name to our community. You are defiling the Roza of our brothers),” the ‘maulana’ told him.
For want of money and helping hands, the group had to abandon its programme from the sixteenth day of Ramzan. But the coordinator has not given up. “Next year, we will do it again. And on a bigger scale,” he said.
Iftar parties missing
This Ramzan, none of the top politicians, both from the ruling and the opposition political parties, hosted Roza Iftar in the city. Before the Covid-19-induced restrictions kicking in, the chief minister Shivraj Chouhan used to regularly host Iftar parties at his residence, to which leading Muslim citizens, including the Shahar Quazi were invited. Many other top politicians, too, did the same. But this year, Iftar parties were missing.
