The Municipal Council of Changanassery in Kottayam district of Kerala is faced with a hitherto unheard problem as two major communities in the local body have approached the authorities with a bizarre plea.
The genesis of the issue was an office order dated March 23 issued by the secretary of the municipal council ordering the sounding of the local body’s siren every evening at 6.30 till April 21 to coincide with the Ramadan fasting period of the Muslim community.
The decision of the municipal secretary was in response to the demand made by MHM Haneefa, secretary of the Muslim Jama Ath of Changanassery.
Amused over the municipal council’s decision to sound the siren to mark the end of fasting time of the Muslim community, Ganesh Kumar, an ardent devotee of the local Hindu Temple, who is also a Hindu Front activist, approached the local body with a plea to sound the siren to mark the beginning and end of the daily poojas held in the temple at 4.45 in the morning and at 6.45 in the evening.
Not to be left behind, the Christian community under the auspices of Christian Association and Alliance for Social Action (CASA), an umbrella organization representing all sects of the Church.
The CASA’s request is that the municipal siren be sounded to inform the faithful about the daily Holy Mass being held at the age-old St Mary’s Cathedral in the town at 5.30 AM, 7.00 AM, and at 5.00 PM with the three special Masses held on Sundays. If the council accedes to the demands made by these communities, Changanassery Municipality would become a town with maximum number of daily sirens catering to the requirements of the three major religions in the State.
While the municipal council opted to ignore the demands made by CASA and the Hindu Front, two petitions were moved in the Kerala High Court demanding the quashing of the municipal secretary’s order to sound the siren to alert the Islamists about the conclusion of the fasting hours.
The petitions contend that fasting during Ramadan was purely an Islamic ritual and that the Municipality, an instrumentality of the State within the ambit of Article 12 of the Constitution could not be used for conducting a religious ceremony or ritual at the expense of exchequer. Though petition was scheduled for hearing on Friday, the Court could not take it up because of other pressing issues.