MUZAFFARNAGAR: At the height of communal tension during the 2013 riots in Muzaffarnagar when a group of rioters decided to demolish a 120-year-old mosque, Ramveer Kashyap put up a staunch defence, even gathering other villagers in his support. Five years later, the 59-year-old mason is still taking care of the only mosque in Muzaffarnagar’s Nanheda village. At daybreak, he cleans up the mosque, lights a candle in the evening, and even gets the structure whitewashed before every Ramzan. “It’s my religious duty. My faith teaches me to respect all places of worship,” he told TOI.Incidentally, the village doesn’t have a single Muslim inhabitant. Located 40 km from the district headquarters, Nanheda is a Jat-dominated village with a few Dalits and OBCs residing here.According to Ramveer, the village had a large number of Muslims before Independence. “However, they moved out. Now, an occasional visitor offers namaz here once in a while,” he said.Khusnaseeb Ahmad, a healthcare professional in the neighbouring Khedi Firozabad village, is one of those visitors. “I visited the village few years ago and was surprised to see a Hindu man looking after the mosque. I offered namaz there. There are many examples of love to counter hate,” he said.Ramveer stays barely 100 metres away from the mosque. “I played around it as a child. For me, it is a place of worship, which deserves respect. As there was no one to take care of it, I took on the responsibility. For the past 25 years, I sweep the premises daily and ensure basic maintenance,” Ramveer said.Nanheda village pradhan Dara Singh is all praise for Ramveer. “He even spends his own money to get it whitewashed once before every Ramzan. At times, his family members also assist him in cleaning up the place.”Ashraf Usmani, in-charge, organisation and development department of Darul Uloom , said, “It is this aspect of India that makes it great. Examples likes Nanheda are spread all across India. Soon after partition when all Muslims moved to Pakistan especially from Punjab, there were Sikhs and Hindus who protected and preserved mosques which are still there. Similarly, there are instances of Muslims protecting temples in many places.”

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