Festivals Together

Festivals in India celebrated across communities, from Durga Puja and Eid to Holi and Ugadi.

West Bengal · 15 Jan 2022

Basirhat Hindus and Muslims prepare Durga Puja together after 2017 unrest

Two months after communal violence, Muslim residents joined puja committees and built pandals in Basirhat.

Hindus and Muslims in Basirhat, North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, worked together on Durga Puja in September 2017, two months after communal violence hit the area in July. Some Muslim families sat on the Pragati Sangha puja committee. In Trimoni, one of the worst-hit areas, nearly 50 labourers, mostly Muslim, built the Prantik Club pandal. Muslim boatmen carry idols for immersion in the Ichamati river, and Muslim volunteers help manage crowds.

Read full story at Business Standard (IANS)

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Uttar Pradesh · 15 Jan 2022

Hindus and Muslims play Holi together at Dewa Sharif in Barabanki

The dargah of Haji Waris Ali Shah is described as the only Sufi shrine in India where Holi is played.

Hindus and Muslims played Holi together at Dewa Sharif, the dargah of 19th-century Sufi saint Haji Waris Ali Shah in Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh, in March 2023. The shrine is described as the only Sufi shrine in the country where Holi is played. A procession starts at Qaumi Ekta Dwar in the morning and reaches the mausoleum around noon. People throw flower petals, abeer and gulal. The tradition is believed to be over a century old.

Read full story at SabrangIndia

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Andhra Pradesh · 15 Jan 2022

Muslims seek blessings for Ugadi at Devuni Kadapa temple in Andhra

Muslim families visit a Lord Venkateswara temple in Kadapa district at Ugadi, following a centuries-old local belief.

Muslims visit the Devuni Kadapa temple in Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh to seek blessings at Ugadi, The News Minute reported in April 2016. The temple, about 120 km from Tirupati, has Lord Venkateswara as its presiding deity. Local Muslims refer to the deity as their son-in-law. This comes from a belief that Lord Balaji married Bibi Nancharamma, a Muslim woman, in 1311 AD. Many local Muslim families mark the Telugu new year with a visit.

Read full story at The News Minute

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Jammu and Kashmir · 15 Jan 2022

Local Muslims welcome Kashmiri Pandits at Kheer Bhawani mela in Ganderbal

Hundreds of Pandit devotees returned for the annual fair, helped by Muslim stall owners and locals.

Hundreds of Kashmiri Pandits attended the annual Kheer Bhawani mela at the Ragnya Devi temple in Ganderbal district, Jammu and Kashmir, in June 2018, and local Muslims welcomed them. Devotees came from Jammu and elsewhere to offer milk and kheer at the sacred spring. Muslim locals ran stalls selling prayer items and fruit. One devotee, Sarika, said a local man drove her family to the temple and refused payment.

Read full story at The Quint

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Jammu and Kashmir · 15 Jan 2022

Kashmiri Muslims serve Hindu pilgrims on the Amarnath Yatra route

Muslim stall owners, pony operators and drivers help over 200,000 pilgrims reach the Himalayan cave shrine.

Kashmiri Muslims supported Hindu pilgrims on the Amarnath Yatra in Jammu and Kashmir in July 2018. Thousands of Muslim shopkeepers, workers and pony operators serve the two-month pilgrimage, which draws more than 200,000 people. In Jammu, Hussain Ali welcomed pilgrims with garlands and ran food stalls. At Baltal, sellers stay in touch with pilgrims and greet them on Eid and Diwali. Locals arrange ponies and palkis for those who cannot walk.

Read full story at Religion Unplugged

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Uttar Pradesh · 15 Jan 2022

Aligarh Muslims serve food and medicines to Kanwar pilgrims

A camp run by Muslim residents of Aligarh served Shiva devotees on the Kanwar route during Mahashivratri.

A group of Muslims in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, set up a camp offering food, milk and medicines to Kanwar pilgrims during Mahashivratri in March 2019, ANI reported. Organiser Amanullah Khan said he had run the camp at Mahashivratri for five years. He told ANI they serve everyone without discrimination. A Muslim woman at the camp said all people should live together peacefully. The pilgrims, devotees of Lord Shiva, stopped at the camp along their route.

Read full story at ANI

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Uttar Pradesh · 15 Jan 2022

Muslim youth and Hindu friend carry 251-litre kanwar through Muzaffarnagar

Shakir and Mintu Nagori walked from Haridwar together on the Kanwar Yatra in July 2026 with Ganga water.

Shakir, a Muslim youth from Phalawda in Meerut, and his Hindu friend Mintu Nagori carried a 251-litre kanwar of Ganga water through Muzaffarnagar district during the Kanwar Yatra in July 2026. The two friends left Haridwar on the night of 17 July. They had carried 101 litres on an earlier yatra. Pilgrims on the route filmed the pair. They plan to offer the water at a temple in Meerut and say their walk promotes harmony across faiths.

Read full story at ETV Bharat

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Madhya Pradesh · 15 Jan 2022

Muslim family in Harda has built Ravan effigy for 50 years

The Sheikh family of Khedipura makes the 52-foot effigy burnt at Nehru Stadium, keeping a shared Dussehra tradition going.

In 2025, a team from the Sheikh Muslim family of Khedipura in Harda, Madhya Pradesh, built the Ravan effigy for the town's Dussehra celebration at Nehru Stadium. The family says it has made the effigy for about 50 years, a task passed down over generations. This year's effigy stood 52 feet tall. About 15 young municipal employees from the community worked on it from morning to night. The family says the work keeps Harda's shared cultural traditions alive.

Read full story at Patrika

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Uttar Pradesh · 15 Jan 2022

Shri Sita Ram temple in Ayodhya hosts iftar for third time

Priest Yugal Kishor opened the Ayodhya temple to people of all faiths to break the Ramzan fast together.

In May 2019, the Shri Sita Ram temple in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, hosted an iftar on its premises during Ramzan. People from different faiths sat together to break the fast. Temple priest Yugal Kishor told ANI it was the third iftar the temple had organised, and that he would keep holding them. Attendee Mujammil Fiza said he celebrates Navratri with his Hindu friends every year.

Read full story at LatestLY (ANI)

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Uttar Pradesh · 15 Jan 2022

Hindu inmates keep Ramzan fast in Muzaffarnagar jail

Sixty-five Hindu prisoners fasted alongside 1,150 Muslim inmates on the first day of Ramzan in 2016.

In June 2016, 65 Hindu inmates at the district jail in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, kept the roza on the first day of Ramzan alongside 1,150 Muslim inmates. Jailor Satish Tripathi shared the figures with PTI. The jail made arrangements for prayers, sehri before dawn and iftar in the evening. Fasting inmates were given seasonal fruits, dates, 500 grams of milk and snacks.

Read full story at Ummid.com (PTI)

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Uttar Pradesh · 15 Jan 2022

Lucknow clerics shift Friday namaz timings for Holi

Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangi Mahli and Maulana Kalbe Jawwad moved prayer times so worshippers and Holi revellers would not clash.

Ahead of Holi in 2018, Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangi Mahli, Imam of the Lucknow Eidgah, moved Friday prayers there by an hour to 1.45 pm so worshippers would not clash with people playing colours. He asked imams in sensitive areas to shift namaz by 30 minutes to an hour. Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawwad also moved prayers at the Asifi mosque from 12.20 pm to 1 pm.

Read full story at Zee News

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Chhattisgarh · 15 Jan 2022

Raigarh’s Salim Niyariya has led Durga Puja committee since 1992

Sheikh Salim Niyariya heads the Handi Chowk Durga Committee, where Muslims and Hindus organise the festival together.

Sheikh Salim Niyariya, a 50-year-old municipal corporator, had led the Handi Chowk Durga Committee in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, since 1992, Zee News reported in October 2015. Niyariya, then Speaker of the Raigarh Municipal Corporation, installed the goddess's idol and started the procession held on Navmi before immersion. The 25-member committee has three Muslim office bearers, and Muslim artisans help decorate the pandal. He also set up a Hanuman temple in the area.

Read full story at Zee News

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