GOTKINDHI: In a classic example of communal harmony, members of the New Ganesh Tarun Mandal in Gotkhindi, a small village in Walwa taluka of Sangli district, have been installing the Ganesh deity inside a mosque in the village for the last 31 years.

The mandal members, both Hindus and Muslims, are also equally proud of the fact that villagers have never objected to the move. In fact, the Muslim villagers offer namaz at the mosque and then follow it up with an aarti for Lord Ganesh. Similarly, Hindus can be seen celebrating Eid with equal zest.

Subhash Thorat, one of the founders of the New Ganesh Tarun Mandal in Gotkhind says, “Our village is small and in 1979, the facilities here were very limited. There was no pandal or tin shed like we see in the Ganesh festivals now. So we installed the idol out in the open. But on one of the festival days, it started raining heavily. We wanted to shift the idol to protect it from the rain. That’s when our Muslim residents came forward and asked us to shift the idol inside the mosque.”

That was 31 years ago and every Ganesh Chaturthi, the idol gets installed in the mosque. “Even after all these years, we don’t set up a separate pandal during the festival. The move has helped strengthen Hindu-Muslim bonds in the village,” says Thorat.

Read more: Communal Harmony