Vitla: Hindu family thanks UT Khader every Nagarapanchami

Vitla : In these times of communal discord when majoritarianism is trying to rip apart communal harmony, a Hindu family thanks the speaker of the Karnataka legislative assembly, UT Khader, for his large-heartedness.

‘Khader Sahib’ as the Hindu family calls him, had donated 20 cents of land for their Nagaradhane Shrine in the village called Pariyaltadka in Vitla in Puttur taluk in Dakshina Kannada district.

Elders in the family that is called as Dalawayi family of Vitla had a Nagradhane shrine in the land belonging to their family for not less than a century. But during the land reform movement under Indira Gandhi, the land had come to the family of the late grandfather of UT Khader, later, UT Khader had bequeathed the property from his father, Late UT Fareed.

Following the change of hands, the Dalawayi family found it delicate to perform Nagarapanchami poojas in their ancestral Nagaradhane Shrine and shifted the venue to a different location, but soon the family ran into troubles, including health and finance-related issues.

The Dalawayi family later through an ‘Ashtamangala question’ (a religious process seeking answers for the family troubles) the family came to know that their ancestral Nagaradhane place was not getting regular poojas which were in fact causing the problems.

The elders of the Dalawayi family approached UT Khader seeking his permission to perform poojas to the Naga idols on the property owned by UT Khader. They had offered to buy 10 cents of land from him, but pained by the ordeal of the family, UT Khader not only donated the land to the family but also doubled the extent of the land to 20 cents without the cost involved.

Though this had happened some years ago, Khader found it was the right thing to do as he not only shared a high degree of reverence for the Nagaradhane culture of the coastal region but also empathised with the Dalawayi family. Many elderly persons in the village offer their prayers in the Naga shrine, which has been restored by the family, and they pay their gratitude to UT Khader.

Speaking to Hans India, Khader said, “Even today, the Dalawayi family is in constant touch with me, and they remember me on every Nagarapanchami festival, it is God’s grace that I could do this, and I am happy to see a family was able to get their shrine back in full splendour.”

Elders of the Dalawayi family said Khader Sahib has saved a family from the hardships it encountered in the last few years by donating this land, and we will be ever thankful to him. Our Shrine has been protected by Khader Sahib for many years when we did not offer poojas there, they said.

A senior writer, Rashid Vitla, reported this extraordinary show of brotherly feelings towards another religion, saying it was the rarest of the rare incidents in this region, which is why Khader a popular leader.