Syed Ali Mujtaba / Hyderabad

In what could be called a tale of communal harmony a Muslim couple Afzal and Muskan participated and won the Ganesh ‘Laddu Auction’ bid on the occasion of the Ganesh Chaturthi Festival that fell on Sat, Sept 7, 2024

The auction took place on September 16, 2024, at the Vigneshwara Ganesh Mandali in Bhattupalli of Kagaznagar Mandal, in Kumuram Bheem Asifabad district in Telangana

Afzal and Muskan, who participated in the auction, said that when they heard that the Vigneshwara Ganesh Mandali was organizing a “laddus auction,” they decided to participate and prepared special laddus for the occasion.

Their laddu was not the traditional round-shaped laddu that we often know, but a replica of Lord Ganesha. The couple was happy that their ‘Laddu’ was sold for the maximum bid at the auction, fetching them a princely price of Rupees 13,216.

Villagers from Bhattupalli were happy that a Muslim couple had won the auction for the scared ‘laddu’, which reflected the spirit of communal harmony that prevails in this part of the world.

It’s a tight slap on the Hindutva zealots who want to turn India into, a Hindu- Hindi – Hindustan paradigm. It shows the Nehruvian idea of ‘Unity in diversity’ still is cherished in the Bhattupalli village of Telangana. 

The Religious figure in Kumuram Bheem Asifabad district is Hinduism (89.05%), and Islam (8.17%).

Kumuram Bheem Asifabad district headquartered at Asifabad, is a predominantly tribal town. The district has two revenue divisions – Asifabad and Kaghaznagar.

 The Bhattupalli village comes under Kaghaznagar Mandal and is situated just 5km away from the sub-district headquarters at Kagaznagar.  The Villagers of Bhattupalli village, for all major economic activities, are dependent on Kaghaznagar town.