Team Clarion
NEW DELHI – Muslims in the Balkonda town of Telangana’s Nizamabad District recently foiled an attempt by a Hindutva group to construct a makeshift temple in a community graveyard.
The Hindu group claims that the graveyard was an ancient Hindu site, media reports reaching here said on Wednesday.
By thwarting the Hindutva group’s attempts, the Muslim community prevented a potential communal flare-up in the region, reports said.
A group of right-wing Hindus initially placed an idol on a vacant piece of graveyard land and wanted to perform an aarti (puja). The attempt, however, was met with strong opposition from the Muslim community which has been using the land for burials for generations.
According to local sources, an attempt to vitiate the atmosphere and harm communal amity was initiated some four months ago when a truck descended on the graveyard and dumped a load of soil and waste there. The dumped material included some idols and the Hindutva group started making claims of the presence of an ancient temple.
Tension mounted as members from both communities gathered at the site, with heated exchanges turning into minor skirmishes. Police and district officials arrived swiftly to control the situation, dismantling the unauthorised construction and removing the idol.
Senior officials assured that the land’s legal status as a graveyard would be upheld, urging residents to maintain peace.
Security has been beefed up in the area to avoid further aggravating the situation.
