Saiyed Danish | India Tomorrow
New Delhi, August 14— On the occasion of Bakr-Eid, prominent civil rights group United Against Hate (UAH) held a mouth-watering event in the heart of the national capital on Tuesday to spread the message of communal harmony.
Titled ‘Nafrat Nahi, Sewai Baato’ (Distribute Sweets, Not Hatred), the event held at Connaught Place’s Inner Circle just outside the Moti Mosque attracted hundreds of people and all appreciated the move. According to the organizers, the event was a success as sweet dish amounting to over 100 kg was distributed among the visitors from all walks of social of religious life.
India Tomorrow spoke to the organizers and the visitors alike at the event to understand the larger message sent out to the society.
Khalid Saifi, the organizer of the event and a member of UAH said, “Our today’s experiment was a well-thought plan and as we had deliberated over the divide created by the politicians resulting in communal disharmony and hatred and there are no opportunities for people to know and come closer to each other as a society. The prime motive behind festivals is that people should meet and share common experiences so in that view, we have organized this event in Connaught Place, the heart of Delhi, and distributing sewai (sweet vermicelli) along with happiness so that we can give a message of unity and brotherhood. We will celebrate other festivals also in the same way.”
We’ve had an overwhelming response from the people. Here there is no Hindu or Muslim but we all are participants in the festival and everybody is happily engaging with us here,” Khalid said when asked about people’s response to the event.
Nikita Chaturvedi, another organizer of the delectable event, said: “We just wanted to celebrate Bakra-Eid with everyone in the society. Although I’m a pure vegetarian, but I wanted to enjoy the festivity so we decided that we should distribute sewai which is very traditional sweet in Muslim culture. So we just celebrated the festival with it. We served 100 kg of kheer today and as you can see all is finished now and more is on the way. We just hope that amount of sweet people had today will reduce that much hatred,” she said.
Vishal, who hailed from Trilokpuri area of Delhi said, “I really liked this event. Look my friend here with me is a Muslim (pointing at the guy standing with him) and I like him very much. I don’t keep any kind of prejudice in my heart. We live and eat together. Don’t see caste and religion, just see love. We should learn to spread love, only then hatred can be defeated. Such event should be organized by every Indian without any bias. There should be brotherhood among everyone in India. I also think that this event is a success as so many people have come here. Whether we are Hindus or Muslims, we have same blood,” he said with a bowl of sewai in his hand.
“This division in the name of being Hindu and Muslim is wrong because there is also humanity. Anyone can come and join anyone in each other’s festivities. Muslim can play Holi, we can participate in Eid,” said Prem who hailed from Uttar Pradesh. He was interrupted by Brijesh, his friend, who said, “…there was a video of a Muslim offering namaz in Gurudwara which had gone viral…that was a good thing.”
“The hatred spread in people’s minds is a negative approach. We have to root out such mentality from within. Hindu, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians are brothers to each other. Apart from that all the fights going on in the name of religion, that is all wrong. Everyone should live peacefully with one another. Once people will become smart enough to understand that certain politicians play the game of religious hatred, all negativities will go away from the society,” Prem added.
“I can see this event sends a message of mutual brotherhood and harmony and I feel very happy about it,” said a participant in the event who hailed from Ayodhya. “Such events should keep happening at regular intervals. The more such events will happen, love between people and the spirit of our shared coexistence will only increase. The common man never wants any kind of altercation in the society in the name of religion.”
A Hindu visitor having sweet dish from Khalid Saifi at United Against Hate event at Connaught Place in New Delhi
“Only people of political nature give it a communal tinge, otherwise we want to live in peace,” said another visitor while gorging on his sewai. He also praised the hygienic way in which the event was being conducted.
Social activist Devilna said, “If you look at that slogan of ours, I say it’s a very important thing to say to everybody. That is not just about progress, it is about sharing and celebrating. We celebrate Christmas, Diwali so let us remind the people of the country that we are a country which celebrates every one and every religion.”
