Meet the Hindu who lets Muslims use his shop as a mosque, for free

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Rediff.com » News » Meet the Hindu who lets Muslims use his shop as a mosque, for free

Meet the Hindu who lets Muslims use his shop as a mosque, for free

October 16, 2015 18:12 IST

‘Kalesaab could have easily earned Rs 1 lakh per month as rent from this place

but he gave it to Muslims for free. Secularism in India is alive only because of

people like him.’

Image: Deepak Kale. Photograph: Afsar Dayatar.

Bajrang Bali housing society is a rather unusual nam e for a building that houses a m osque

but in a part of Dharavi, known the world over as Asia’s largest slum , that’s where for the last

six m onths the M uslim com m unity has found a tem poraryprayer area.

All thanks to Deepak Kale, a leather shop owner who owns theproperty.

W hen M uslim s of M ukund nagar in Dharavi, Sion, in CentralM um bai, were wondering where

to hold prayers after their m osque underwentrepairs, they turned to Kale.

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Kale not only agreed to give them his2,500 square feet shop on the ground floor of Bajrang

Bali housing society forprayers, but also decided to not take any rent from them till the tim e

theirm osque is rebuilt.

“Som e m asjid trustees cam e to m e to ask for m y place. I have known these people since m y

childhood so I gave it them for offeringnamaaz. Khurshidbhai, who is a m asjid trustee, is m y

childhood friend, I have spent m y life with him .

“I didn’t want to take any rent from them because I bought this com m ercial space in order to

sell it, and I had told them that the day I get a custom er I will sell it after giving them two

m onths’ notice,” said Kale.

A hundred m etres from Bajrang Bali is the NoorM asjid M adarsa Faizaul Quran, the original

m osque, where repair work is going on in full swing, with M uslim artisans trying their best to

com plete the work in two m onths tim e.

“In our country we need to respect each other’s faith. M uslim s m ust respect the H indu faith

and vice versa,” adds Kale.

W hat has surprised Kale and M uslim s of the locality is the publicity his sim ple gesture has

received.

“W e have been praying at Kalesaab’s place for the last six m onths. For us it was no news but

after one Urdu paper published a report on this, all m edia peopleare writing about it,” says

Tanvir Azm i, a businessm an and resident of M ukund Nagar. “M ore than 90 percent of H indus

in India are likeKalesaab. H e could have easily earned Rs 1 lakh per m onth as rent from this

place but he gave it to M uslim s for free. Secularism in India is onlyalive because of people like

him .”

Thelocality has an equal num ber of M uslim and H indu residents. On the left of Bajrang Bali

building live the H indus, while M uslim s live on its right. So oneside of the road sports green

flags, while the other side sports saffron flags.

But not everything is as peaceful as it appears. Three lanes away,a sm all m ob of 200 H indus

and M uslim s was ready to take on each other last weekover the issue of flying flags but a

tim ely intervention by com m unity eldersdefused the crisis.

“In a place where sm all riots break out over m inor issues, it is a very big thing that Kalesaab

has done. H e is a prim eexam ple of what Indian secularism is all about,” says Atiullah

Choudhary, abusinessm an who prays regularly at Bajrang Bali society.

Another friend ofKale, Naeem Shaikh, pitches in, “After seeing Kalesaab, I realised one has to

work on secularism daily to build bridges between H indus and M uslim s. Itis a daily effort. You

cannot just say that you are secular and relax in achair. You have to work for it in society. One

m istake we Indians do is that wetake secularism for granted, and that m ust not be done.”

Dharavi witnessed one of the m ost horrifying riots in M um bai in 1992-93 and Kale had then

taken an active part in saving a lot of M uslim lives.

“I housed around 200 M uslim s safely in m y leather shop during the 1993 riots. They left only

after thesituation norm alised,” says Kale.

Asked what in his opinion was the one reason that caused riots, Kale says without blinking,

“Rum ours. There are som e people in all com m unities --be it H indus, M uslim s or Christians --

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who do not wanteveryone to live peacefully. They are always up to som e m ischief and so I feel

the governm ent m ust bring in a law to stop people from spreading false rum ours.Till that does

not happen, riots will never stop.”

H e has a recipe to savesecularism , too. “I tell people to keep quiet and work for peace all the

tim e. Ifeel if m y lane is not harm ed by com m unalism , then the country will take care of itself.

If m y lane is facing com m unal problem s, what can I say about m y country?So first keep

com m unal peace in your own lane, and the country will follow suit.”

Syed Firdaus Ashraf / Rediff.com in Mumbai

Related News: Deepak Kale, Bajrang Bali, Kalesaab, M uslim s, M uslim

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Total 93 messages Pages | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 Older >

i respectby kapil (View MyPage) on Oct 19, 2015 11:32 AM | Hide replies

this man... he is best.. hope that rss guys learn something from him.

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Re: i respectby SREENIVAS (View MyPage) on Oct 20, 2015 10:39 AM Why RSS has to learn from this idiot? Can you tell or quote an example where same type of magnanimity shown by Muslims? will they similarly allow a temple to come up in Bhagwan Rama's birth place?


Hindu Muslimsby arungopal agarwal (View MyPage) on Oct 19, 2015 10:38 AM | Hide replies

Politicians, media and few fanatics are making this issue controversial, else both are living together from the last 1000 years. Our system has not taken any correction so far for hate spreading people, all politicians are to be barredto contest, similarly media persons should also be banned for such spreading.


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Re: Hindu Muslimsby raj ramani (View MyPage) on Oct 19, 2015 11:29 AM If the said Religion was so peaceful there would not have been so much problems in the world today. They cannot live in peace with any Religion not even amongst their own people. Today in India if they would have been peaceful as Arungopal says then Pakistan and Bangladesh would not have existed.


nota articleby Manohar kaul (View MyPage) on Oct 19, 2015 09:25 AM

Kashmir a classic example set by the so called peace upon b him and then feel the pinch when peace offends them Real parrots


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Meet the Hindu who lets Muslims use his shop as a mosque, for free