India Tomorrow
Ludhiana, Punjab, June 15—In the times of rising communal tensions and incidents of hate crimes, a glimmer of hope is coming from Ludhiana district of Punjab where a group of elderly Sikhs have come out to save a dilapidated mosque even when there is no Muslim resident in the village.
A news website dailysikhupdates.com posted an article on Saturday about a few elderly Sikhs in the village of Hedon Bet in Ludhiana district of Punjab who have refused everyone approaching them with the intentions of demolishing a mosque which was built in 1920.
Despite the fact that there is not a single Muslim living in the village now, the Sikh villagers, particularly elderly ones, have vowed to protect the mosque as their religious duty. During the partition of India, the Muslims from this village had left for Pakistan.
Won’t Let Anyone Demolish the Masjid, It’s the Identity of our Village: Sikh Villager
The article also carries a video posted by a Facebook page, ‘Awaaz Punjab Di’. In the video, which is in Punjabi, one of the elderly Sikhs said, “We will not let anyone demolish the masjid (mosque). It is the identity of the village.”
When a man in the video asks him, “Wouldn’t it be better that a Gurudwara can be constructed in its place by demolishing the mosque, like Babri mosque was demolished in 1992?” pat comes the reply from another elderly Sikh, “Isn’t this a house of God too?” Regarding Babri mosque, one replied, “They were foolish to do so. All places of worship are sacred.”
After the elders vehemently joined hands to protect the mosques, other residents of the village also came forward to stand with them. They overwhelmingly support the elders and prevent anyone from occupying the abandoned site.
“As long as we live the mosque will stand and they will stand guard to prevent demolition,” the elders have pledged.
This is not the first time that Sikhs have offered to protect places of worship belonging to another faith. There are several reports which say that the Sikh community in Punjab have returned deserted mosques to Muslims and at places, they have rebuilt the mosque.
In April 2002, Sikhs in Gurdaspur town of the state had returned a mosque to the Muslim community.
In April 2018, crossing all divides, Hindus and Sikhs helped build a mosque in a village where Muslims had no mosque.
