Kerala governor, Arif Mohammad Khan, on Wednesday, offered prayers at Bankey Behari Temple in Vrindavan and advised against paying any heed to those with divisive ideology.
He also said there was harmony among most communities in the country and when asked if there was any message by his visit to temples, he said, this (his temple visit despite being a Muslim) shouldn’t be seen as something unusual.
“My visits to temples are not new, at least for those who are from Kanpur, my parliamentary constituency in the 80s. Back then, there wasn’t a single temple in Kanpur that I hadn’t visited. Last week I was in Tirupati temple and had been to another prominent temple in Kerala a few months back” he said.
“I was invited by someone close to me from Kanpur who has organised ‘phool bangla” (decoration by flowers) at Bankey Behari Temple in Vrindavan and I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to have ‘darshan’ and be part of ‘phool bangla’ celebration here,” Khan said.
He denied claim by a journalist that after Mughal emperor Akbar, he was the first Muslim to visit Bankey Behari Temple in Vrindavan.
“Many (Muslims) have been here and one amongst them was the member of constituent assembly Maulana Hazrat Mohani who, as I have read, used to spend much time here in Vrindavan. He was from Mohan (Unnao) and used to reside in Kanpur. Beside there had been great personalities like ‘Raskhan’ (having memorial in Mathura) who had sung verses praising Krishna in Vrindavan,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}“Many (Muslims) have been here and one amongst them was the member of constituent assembly Maulana Hazrat Mohani who, as I have read, used to spend much time here in Vrindavan. He was from Mohan (Unnao) and used to reside in Kanpur. Beside there had been great personalities like ‘Raskhan’ (having memorial in Mathura) who had sung verses praising Krishna in Vrindavan,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}“Anybody having hallucination can murmur anything,” said Khan while reacting to claim by PFI of turning India into Islamic state by 2047. “It is a democratic nation and everybody has freedom to speech but we should avoid highlighting their baseless claims and ignore them totally. In fact, they are afraid,” he added.
“India faced partition in 1947 but there were few pockets from where people with separatist ideology vitiated atmosphere. In fact, everything is normal in the country and claims of fear in the country are baseless,” said Khan, an Aligarh Muslim University alumnus.
“My conduct is my message,” he said.