LUCKNOW: Members of the Hindu community showered flowers on Muslims, who came out from a mosque after offering prayers. The incident took place in Thakurdwara, Moradabad. Recently, Muslims had also received Hindus in a similar manner, during the Hanuman Jayanti celebrations. Thakurdwara circle officer Anoop Singh and sub-divisional magistrate Parmanand Singh have been encouraging people of both the communities to maintain peace in the area.

“Respecting each other’s religion will change the outlook of people and there won’t be any communal tensions”, said Anoop Singh. Both the top officials had also evaluated the security arrangements in the area as Eid and Akshaya Tritiya was on the same day. The flower shower arrangements were done by the Vyapar Mandal of the town. “We all live in harmony and have been celebrating each other's festivals for years in the town. This year, we just attempted to make our Muslim brothers feel special and valued", said Gaurav Chauhan, who led the initiative.

“We had never expected such a gesture. It came in as a pleasant surprise. Such harmony is the need of the hour as many parts of the country are witnessing incidents with communal overtones”, responded an Islam believer to a national daily.