Team News Riveting
Bengaluru, December 8
With a green background, a poster of Lord Hanuman in the rural pocket of Bengaluru is attracting the attention of passersby.
It is not because the picture projects the proposed plan of a magnificent temple of Hanuman; a Muslim couple standing tall in the poster stuck the visitors to have a glimpse. After all, it deserved people’s appreciation.
“Sayeba Thannimunisa and HMG Basha have given land for free for the temple construction…,” the writings say as the temple committee has placed the poster to publically express its regards to the Muslim couple who decided to donate land for building a grand Hanuman temple.
HMG Basha, 65, is a transporter. With the consent of family members, he has donated 1.5 guntas of land for revamping a Hanuman temple in Valagerepura village under Hosakote taluk of Bengaluru Rural district. The estimated cost of the land is between Rs 80 lakh and Rs 1 crore.
The land is located close to the highway with Old Madras Road passing right next to it. It has a high commercial value as the land is just 35 km from the Karnataka’s capital. But Basha decided to donate it to build a magnificent Hanuman temple.
“There was a small Hanuman temple there, so I told a few people that I can give them the land if they want to build a bigger temple,” Basha says. Recently, they came to him to discuss taking 1 gunta land, but he thought it would be too small, he adds.
“I offered them 1.5 guntas land so they can build a bigger temple,” says the 65-year-old. He added that he had observed how people were struggling for space to go around the temple during worship, which prompted him to do so too.
Even though it was a straightforward decision for Basha, it was met with shock, surprise, and elation in Valagerepura. “They had doubts about what I was doing but I told them that I would love to see a Hanuman temple built on this land,” he adds.
“Whether to build a mandir or masjid, it doesn’t matter. At the end of the day, we all pray to the same god. We are all citizens of the same country and that’s why all my family members too agreed that we should donate the land,” Basha says.
Sri Veeranjaneyaswami Devalaya Seva Trust that manages the temple affairs has designed a plan to renovate the temple at a cost of Rs 1 crore with a magnificent look.
