Gandhi Recited Quran Verses in the Temple of Valmiki Basti near Delhi

 

Once Mohandas. K. Gandhi was reciting Quran in the temple of Valmiki Basti near Delhi.

 

Then a woman from the crowd got up and asked Gandhi not to do so.

Gandhi asked: Why?

 

Then that woman said that it is against our religion.

 

 Gandhi said. I don't believe so. ..The woman replied that we do not consider you worthy to give order in religion..

 

Gandhi said that the vote of the people present here should be taken. The woman replied whether religion could be decided by votes?.

 

Gandhi said that you are obstructing my religious freedom. The woman replied that you are interfering illegally in the religion of crores of Hindus.

 

Gandhi said: I wish to listen to the Quran, now.  The woman said: And I will oppose it inside our temple.

 

And then hundreds of Valmiki youths stood by the side of the woman and started saying that before getting the Quran recited in the temple, show us by reciting Gita or Ramayana in a mosque and then we will allow this.

 

Seeing the growing protests, Gandhi called the police, as his friend Nehru was PM. The police came and caught the protestors and a case of 107 was registered against them, and after that Gandhi continued reading the Quran in the same temple under police protection, hurting the feeling of many Valmikis.

 

 (Excerpts from the book 'Vishwasghat' written on the partition of the country) * Author- Guru Duttn central Delhi. (Express photo: Kajol Rustagi)

 

 

E-Touch had a fast fact check on the above incident of Gandhiji’s Recitation of Quran in Hindu Temple.

 

The following information was noticed:

The same incident was narrated by Naduram Godse who was reprimanded by Savarkar defending Gandhiji. The report is a part of the record of the Gandhi murder case, which can be found in Printed Volume II, Criminal Appeals Nos 66 to 72 of the 1949 Punjab High Court (then at) Simla. 

 

https://www.esamskriti.com/e/History/Indian-History/Why-was-Gandhi-killed-(full)-2.aspx

 

Godse: “I shall just mention here two striking instances only out of a number of them which painfully opened my eyes about this time to the fact that Veer Savarkar and other old leaders of Mahasabha could no longer be relied upon by me and the Hindu youths of my persuasion to guide or even to appreciate the fighting program with which we aimed to counteract Gandhiji’s activities inside and the Muslim League outside.  

 

In 1946 or thereabout the Muslim atrocities perpetrated on the Hindus under the Government patronage of Surhawardy in Noakhali, made our blood boil. Our shame and indignation knew no bounds, when we saw that Gandhiji had come forward to shield that very Surhawardy and began to style him as ‘Shahid Saheb-a Martyr Soul (!) even in his prayer meetings. Not only that but after coming to Delhi, Gandhiji began to hold his prayer meetings in a Hindu temple in Bhangi Colony and persisted in reading passages from Quoran as a part of the prayer in that Hindu temple in spite of the protest of the Hindu worshippers there. Of course he dared not read the Geeta in a mosque in the teeth of Muslim reaction would have been if he had done so. But he could safely trample over the feelings of the tolerant Hindu. To belie this belief I determined to prove to Gandhiji that the Hindu too could be intolerant when his honor was insulted.

 

36 to 39 –  Apte and I decided to stage a series of demonstrations in Delhi at his meeting and make it impossible for him to hold such prayers. Seeing the protest Gandhi slyly took shelter behind barred and guarded doors. But when Savarkar read about the report of this demonstration he blamed me for such anarchical tactics. Another incident was the treatment of the post Independence Indian government by the Mahasabhaites. Savarkar felt that the government needed all support to prevent a Civil War and enable Muslims to realize their mission to turn the whole of India into Pakistan. My friends and others were unconvinced. We felt that time had come to bid good-bye to Savarkar and cease to consult him in our future policy and programs, nor should we confide in him our plans.

 

Hence Gandhiji’s reading Quaran in Hindu Temple happened to be a historical incident and fact. E-Touch Members can draw their own conclusions.