Ahilyanagar: As one enters the village of Guha, located in Maharashtra’s Ahilyanagar district about 270 km from Mumbai, an eerie sense of calm and restlessness is palpable—and so are the clouds of hostility among the residents from the Hindu and Muslim communities.
The village with a population of around 6,000 people, comprising around 1,000 Muslims, has become a flashpoint due to a dispute over a religious structure—the Hazrat Ramzan Shah Baba Dargah, or Kanifnath/Kanobha Dargah. Once frequented by both Muslim and Hindu villagers for prayers, the site is now at the centre of a communal conflict, which began over two years ago.
“We used to make around 20-30 litres of Sheer Korma for Eid in our village. Our Hindu brothers and sisters used to come and eat, and stay with us all day during the festival. On Diwali, we used to get ‘Faral (mix of sweet and savoury snacks)’ from their side. But all that has now stopped. Now, we don’t even look at each other,” says 70-year-old Shaikh Tuolek, who has lived his entire life in Guha.
Over the past two years, multiple villages in Ahilyanagar, and the city itself, have witnessed an alarming rise in incidences of polarisation. Hate speeches, calls for social and economic boycott of Muslims, and disputes over religious structures are now common in Ahilynagar, where both communities once lived in harmony.
This story was originally published in theprint.in. Read the full story here.