India is a secular country and every day its citizens fight to ensure it stays that way. We will always remain a secular nation thanks to the magnitude of diversity that lives around and within us.?
According to a Times of India report, more than 300-year-old Lingayat mutt in Belagavi district¡¯s Hukkeri taluk celebrated the nation¡¯s syncretic ethos by inviting a Muslim leader to launch the 10-day Dasara festivities open on Saturday.
The festivities were inaugurated by Mukthar Pathan, chief of Karnataka Minority Development Corporation at?Gurushanteshwara Samsthan Hiremath Mutt in Hukkeri town, about 560 km from Bengaluru. He was wearing a skullcap and lighting a lamp at the mutt¡¯s programme hall.?
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This is the first time that the mutt invited a non-Hindu to open Dasara at its premises. Pathan said that he feels blessed to launch Dasara in Hukkeri. He was invited by mutt pontiff Chandrasekhar Mahaswami.?
He added, ¡°This time, Dasara is a low-key event, and both Hindus and Muslims will pray to the goddess to end the scourge of novel coronavirus.¡±?
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In another incident, a Hindu man became the first person to donate money towards the construction of the mosque in Ayodhya. Rohit Srivastava, a law faculty employee of Lucknow University had donated Rs 21,000 in the beginning of this month.?
Discussing as to why he donated the amount, he had said that Indian Hindus and Muslims celebrate all festivals together. He had also urged other Hindus to donate for the construction.?
The standalone Hukkeri mutt, like many other institutions in North Karnataka, has been promoting communal harmony for decades. Thousands of Muslims are known to visit it every year.?