‘Ram & Rahim are same’: Hindus who saved dargah in Surat during Gujarat riots  

AHMEDABAD:  A dargah in Punagam, Gujarat’s Surat district, has gained attention as a representation of Hindu-Muslim harmony. Although there are no Muslims in the area of the dargah, Hindus have long maintained it.

During the communal riots in 2002, the Hindu community banded together to prevent the dargah from being demolished. Locals also recently decided to repair the shrine on their own. Over the years, Halapati community of Pir Paliya in Puna village, Surat district, have preserved a rare example of harmony. 

Parivn Rathod, who maintains the dargah, said, “Misri Pirbaba Dargah was built by Muslims living in Pir Paliya years ago, but after the Babri Masjid communal riots in 1992-93, Muslim families left the area. After they left, some miscreants came to destroy the dargah but the local Hindu families gathered and fought the miscreants and saved the dargah. Since then, only the local Hindu families living in Pir Paliya have been cleaning the dargah and worshiping for almost 30 years.” 

For the last two years, Muslims and local families have started coming to the dargah. The Hindu families also arrange free tea, water, and food for the Muslims visiting the dargah. As the dargah was in a dilapidated state, the locals worked brought it back to its original form. Manoj Rathore said, “Some people tried to remove the shrine some time ago.

As part of this, a dead pig was dumped here after which locals lodged a police complaint and the dargah was also given police protection.”  A senior citizen, Jayanti Rathod, said, “For us Ram and Rahim are the same. We neither have a problem with saffron nor green colour.”