Tripura: Muslim family defies social norms; hosts Kali puja for 10th consecutive year | Agartala News

AGARTALA: Despite religious isolation and being a believer in Islam Kashem Mian, an employee of Rubber Board organized puja to Goddess Kali on the occasion of Diwali celebration Sunday night at his residence in Amtali locality of West Noabadi, northeastern outskirt of Agartala like previous years.

Kashem distributed special food among over 1,500 Hindu devotees for the whole night who took part in the puja.However, Kashem didn’t engage any Hindu priest or any outsider to offer puja, rather he made every arrangement by himself along with his family members, said his fatherMohammad Mohan Mian.
Mian claimed, “This was the 10th year of Kali puja in our house, which was begun in 2014 about a year after Kashem got instruction in a dream to offer puja to Goddess Kali on Diwali. We initially didn’t agree with Kashem to host the puja of the Hindu Goddess but finally, we had to accept because he was mentally broken down, which affected his health.”

Although Kashem offers puja to Goddess Kali once a year, he doesn’t preach Hinduism and its practice rather follows Islam in his daily life along with the family members. He practices ritual prayers prescribed by Islam (Namaz) five times a day and all other formalities and lifestyles like other Muslims over the years, Mohan Mian stated.
The unusual celebration of Kali puja by an Islam believer has brought several social obstructions to the family, said Sukumar Rudrapal, a Hindu neighbour of the family. “The local Muslims have put restrictions for their entry into the mosque and isolated themselves from their society”, he said.
Even the family has been getting continuous threats and oppression from fellow Islamic groups. Similarly, Hindu society has not accepted them as Hindu as he doesn’t follow Hinduism other than holding Kali puja in the house and also practicing Islamic life, he attributed.
“The other Muslims stopped connection from the family from the day when for the first time they hosted Kali puja in the house. Thereafter, every year Kashem Mian got instruction from the local Muslim leaders not to organize puja but each time he refused to accept them”, Rudrapal mentioned.
Now, it has become a routine event for the family and the locality, he claimed and added, “He is neither religiously accepted by Muslims nor by Hindus.”