Maharashtra has recently seen a change of power at the state with erstwhile Hindutva party Shiv Sena allying with ‘secular’ forces like the Congress party headed by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi along with NCP, headed by Sharad Pawar. With a ‘secular’ government in place now, the Hindus of the state have been left in the lurch. The plight of Hindus was evident from the ordeal of some Hindu families living in a Mumbai residential complex where the majority of residents are Christians.
Zee News reported that in a residential building called MP Kinny House in Juhu, there are only 5 Hindu families, with all other residents being Christians. The Christians of the building have been harassing the Hindu families by issuing threats, shutting off the water supply and not allowing them to perform puja.
A Hindu resident of the building, Alpa Beli said that the Christian families of the building shut off the water supply of the building because that is where they take the water from to perform their puja. In fact, she said that even though the Hindu families furnish advance rent of 6 months, the Christian families mistreat them. She says that their (Christian families’) greatest issue is that the Hindu families perform puja. ‘Unhe pasand nahi hai hum apne Devi, Devtaon ko puje’, she said.
Another family, that of one Anju Tata had a similar tale to tell. She said that the Hindu families face a lot of issues in the building like facing abuses, threats and the water supply being cut by the Christian families. She said they often come outside their house and lock their doors and threaten them to leave.
Another individual said that they are troubled because the Christian families are against the Hindus performing puja. He said that they are harassed when they play the Shankh or even light Agarbattis for their puja. He said that the harassment has reached a level where the Hindus of the building are wondering if they should flee and live elsewhere.
When the Zee News correspondent tried to reach out to the caretaker of the building, he refused to respond. The daughter of the caretaker flat-out refused to answer questions posed by Zee News. In fact, the daughter can be seen standing at the door and telling the correspondent to interview those people who have made the allegations. Further, she says that it was not their fault at all (the caretakers and Christian families).
When contacted, the Maharashtra Home Minister said that everyone in Maharashtra has the right to worship the Gods they believe in, in their homes.
Reportedly, a complaint has already been lodged by the Hindu families with the police about the harassment they face at the hands of the Christian residents of the building, but no action against the culprits have been taken thus far.
This is not the first time that such an incident has come to light from Maharashtra. In October, Vishwa Bhanu, a resident of Malad West, Mumbai, who is associated with the movie industry as an actor, wrote on Facebook about the ordeal he suffered on the occasion of Diwali as a consequence of the intolerance of his Muslim neighbours. He said that her wife was not being allowed to light up their house on Diwali and he was forced to remove the lights by the mob.
In the complaint to police, Vishwa Bhanu wrote:
Like every year, my wife Priyanka Sharma has been prevented from lighting candles and making her Rangoli on Diwali. Anti-social elements who live in the society, where Rehan Petiwala, Salim and Mustafa broke the lights. Every year they do this and even mock our God’s and Goddesses. On Bakra Eid, they force us to keep our door open and they slaughter goats in front of our house when they can do this elsewhere also. But I never said anything because it is their festival. Because we are Hindus, we are mocked, pressurised and a situation is being created that we will soon leave the area. For small things, they come to fight with us. I am mostly away for shooting and am concerned about my wife.
After OpIndia broke the story, Bhanu was severely misquoted by The Quint and had then lashed out against the portal. He had also detailed his ordeal further on how Muslims of the society regularly harassed them for being Hindu.
