Mumbai: To maintain the communal harmony between Hindus and Muslims, a 100-year pact has been signed in Burondi village of Ratnagiri district. The notarised pact lays down a code of conduct for members of both the communities to avoid any communal tension in the village that has a population of 4,000, 20 per cent of which are Muslims.
The agreement has several clauses on the code of conduct for religious processions. The agreement states, “Hindu processions, be it a marriage procession or a religious one, will pass through the masjid with drums playing. However if there is namaaz going on, the procession will stop at a distance and pass only when the namaaz is over.”
A clause directing the Govinda procession says that it will pass through the masjid with full pomp and will also pay obeisance at the mosque.
According to the agreement, members of both the communities will celebrate all the festivals together. The agreement also specifies that Hindus living between a particular stretch in the village will help and serve during the annual Urs held at Karajgaon Dargah.
The three page agreement says that the members of both the communities should be present on the dais in any public programme held in the village.
Burondi has been able to maintain communal harmony for very long time. The only time the village faced a communal violence was in 1987 when the communities clashed over a wedding procession playing loud music while passing the mosque. About three years ago, the village witnessed a little communal tension when a procession of Govinda passed three times in front of the mosque.
Two of the nine Grampanchayat members in the village are Muslims.
The village sarpanch Pradeep Rane who initiated the move says the incident three years ago and the situation in the country made us think of an agreement that could maintain communal harmony.
