A temple in Padanna village in Kasaragod district in Kerala has voluntarily razed its compound wall to host a convention of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH), an outfit known as the ‘RSS among the Muslims.’
Days ago, the village was under harsh spotlight after 23-year-old Hafeesudeen K, who was part of the five young Muslim families from Padanna that had reportedly left the village to join the ISIS, was reported dead in an air strike in Afghanistan.
The New Indian Express reported that a temple in this village razed its compound wall to help JIH to host its district convention. One of the stages and several bookstalls for the two-day convention, held on February 18 and 19, was set up on the temple compound.
“They asked for space and we offered it to them. There is nothing more to it,” said K V Chandran, a committee member of Sree Padna Mundya Temple.
“The temple festival is spearheaded by them (Muslims). So when they asked for a little space, neither the devotees nor the temple committee members had second thoughts on what had to be done.”
So did the villagers go out of their way to portray a picture of communal harmony amid scrutiny following reports of extremism?
“There is no effort in Padanna to put on a show of communal harmony and that is because, unlike Kasaragod, the social interactions between different communities are very high here,” he told the newspaper.
