The Municipal Council of Changanassery in the Kottayam district of Kerala is facing a unique issue as three major communities in the local body have approached the authorities with a bizarre plea. This peculiar situation arose when the municipal council’s secretary ordered the sounding of the local body’s siren every evening at 6.30 till April 21 to coincide with the Ramadan fasting period of the Muslim community.
This decision was taken after the Muslim Jama Ath of Changanassery, represented by MHM Haneefa, approached the council with a demand for the siren. However, this decision did not sit well with Ganesh Kumar, a Hindu Front activist and an ardent devotee of the local Hindu temple, who also approached the council with a plea to sound the siren to mark the beginning and end of daily poojas held in the temple at 4.45 in the morning and at 6.45 in the evening.
Not to be left behind, the Christian community, under the auspices of Christian Association and Alliance for Social Action (CASA), an umbrella organization representing all sects of the Church, also approached the council with a request to sound the siren to inform the faithful about the daily Holy Mass being held at the age-old St Mary’s Cathedral in the town at 5.30 AM, 7:00 AM, and at 5.00 PM, with three special Masses held on Sundays.
If the council accedes to the demands made by these communities, Changanassery would become a town with the maximum number of daily sirens catering to the requirements of the three major religions in the State.
However, the council opted to ignore the demands made by CASA and the Hindu Front, and two petitions were moved in the Kerala High Court demanding the quashing of the municipal secretary’s order to sound the siren to alert the Muslims about the conclusion of the fasting hours.
The petitions contend that fasting during Ramadan is purely an Islamic ritual, and the Municipality, an instrumentality of the State within the ambit of Article 12 of the Constitution, cannot be used for conducting a religious ceremony or ritual at the expense of the exchequer.
Although the petition was scheduled for hearing on Friday, the Court could not take it up due to other pressing issues. It remains to be seen how the court will rule on this matter and what impact it will have on the religious practices of the communities involved.
Courtesy: Kumar Chellappan
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