Muslim youths brave opposition to start Ganeshotsav at Dharavi
In an area like Dharavi where memories of Mumbai’s 1992-93 communal riots are still alive, some youths of the Muslim community have joined hands with some people of the Hindu community to start the first and only pandal where the people of different communities are working together since the past three years.
Some Muslim youth from Dharavi area set up a Ganpati pandal to celebrate and get involved in the Ganeshotsav. This idea was supported by the locals of other communities and therefore for the last three years members of the Kriya Shakti Sarvajanik Ganpati Mandal have been setting up the pandal and celebrating the festival together.
The Muslim youth organise the entire festival by managing several arrangements. Haider Shabbir Shikalgar, the youth who started this initiative, said, “We just came up with this idea because we wanted to celebrate the festival together. I did not know anything about the customs or rituals but my friends guided me and today I participate in the aarti and perform all the rituals.”
But initiating such a collaboration in Dharavi was not an easy task. “When we would go to take permissions we faced tremendous opposition from the police and the BMC. The authorities questioned us because we were Muslims and told us not to interfere with a Hindu festival. In fact, some of the locals of Dharavi threatened us,” Haider said. Now, the locals of Dharavi celebrate all the festivals together.