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Rare Bengal harmony in times of strife

Nawab Ali Park, the ground at Ekbalpore, is being used for both Durga Puja and Muharram, and members of both communities have been partaking in the two events with equal fervour

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Muharram preparations at Nawab Ali Park
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Residents of Ekbalpore, a Muslim-dominated area in West Kolkata, are displaying an example of communal harmony. Nawab Ali Park, the ground at Ekbalpore, is being used for both Durga Puja and Muharram, and members of both communities have been partaking in the two events with equal fervour.

This comes amid tensions in West Bengal as the Calcutta High Court on September 21 put on hold the West Bengal government's controversial notification that restricted Durga idol immersion on Muharrum, and ordered the administration to ensure that there is no clash between members of the two communities.

"Puja and Muharram had been happening together for the last two years, but we have been exemplifying communal harmony for decades. This ground, including the place where the pandal for Durga Puja has come up, had doubled up as an Eidgaah, a place for saying namaz, during the recent Bakri Eid too," said Tirthankar Mukherjee, president of Ekbalpore Sarbojanin Durgotsav Samiti.

Nezamuddin Shams, the local councillor, is also the vice president of the puja samiti.

"This place is a perfect example of communal harmony even during these troubled times. The Muslim population of the area is about 60 per cent, and most of them, including me, are actively involved in organising the puja here," he told DNA.

Treasurer of the committee Suresh Kumar Das too echoed similar views. "While Fazlur Haque and Sk Shah Jahan — two of our prominent committee members — have been busy for at least three months coordinating and getting things ready for the puja, I have been looking after the Muharram preparations," he told DNA.

He said that there was an instance when Eid was a couple of days after Durga Puja, and since there had been a downpour the night before, people said namaz inside the puja pandal as the structure was still there after the idol had been immersed.

"The Muharram procession culminates at one end of the ground and passes from right in front of the pandal without any problem. There is a police protection but that is purely a formality. There had not been any tension between members of two communities in the past," he added.

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