Agartala, Oct 8 (TIWN): In a rare show of brotherhood, Muslims in a village in Tripura’s Sepahijala district joined hands with Hindus to celebrate the Durga Puja.

    Less than five percent Hindu families live in Durgapur, a Muslim-dominated village about 70 kilometers from Agartala. The village is located near Gomati River bordering Bangladesh.

   But they celebrate Durga Puja with fanfare, thanks to the support of Muslims." We are lucky that Durga Puja is celebrated in our village by Muslims. This is unheard of anywhere else," said, a Bengali Hindu villager.

    "Without Muslim support, we can't think of celebrating the festival in such a big way," he said. Another Bengali Hindu, a retired teacher in the village Brajendra Chandra Das   echoed him. "It is a beautiful experience. Muslims not only help us prepare for the festival but also join us to offer Prasad and other rituals," he said.
      The Muslims helped Hindus decorate the Puja pandal.

Mr. Zalilur Rehman Talukdar who is Durgapur village Panchayat pradhan and lawyer by profession, one of the dozens of Muslims who helped Hindus celebrate the festival, said over telephone, “He and other Muslims were only continuing an age-old tradition. It is a matter of tolerance preached by Islam that one should help the other,"

    A local news journalist of Sepahijala district, Abdul Sattar, said, “Dozens of Muslim youths helped clean up the village and streets for the festival it is a classical case of communal harmony”