New Delhi: A temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Vrindavan refused to entertain Hindutva groups’ demand to boycott Muslims who work there and asserted its stand that in Vrindavan, Hindus and Muslims live together in harmony, Times of India reported.
It was the famous Banke Bihari temple in Vrindavan that refused to heed the Hindutva group's demand to boycott Muslims as a response to the Pahalgam attack.
A member of the temple administration and a priest there, Gyanendra Kishore Goswami, told TOI that banning or boycotting Muslims is not practical since the minority community plays a major role in the temple’s running.
Muslim artisans and weavers have made the dresses of Banke Bihar for decades, and many strongly believe in the deity and visit the temple, he said. Muslims make the crowns, clothing, garlands, etc., for the deities in the temple, and there are musicians from the community who also play the traditional wind instrument of nafiri there.
Last month also, the temple priests rejected a call to boycott Muslims and ban dresses made by them for deities. This was after Dinesh Sharma, president of the group named Shri Krishna Janambhumi Sangharsh Nyas, submitted a memorandum to the temple administration.
After the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Hindutva groups in Vrindavan and Mathura had issued calls for Hindu shopkeepers and pilgrims to boycott Muslims. They also demanded that Muslim shop owners write the owner's names on business establishments.
It was on April 22 that a group of five armed militants opened fire at a group of tourists in the Baisaran valley of Pahalgam in Kashmir. The group is 26 people, including 25 tourists and a local. The incident is viewed as the deadliest of its kind since the 2008 Mumbai attacks. The attackers allegedly selectively targeted the victims based on their religion, killing Hindus.