Imrana Saifi Sanitizing Temples Wearing A Burqa Is A Heartening Picture Of Communal Harmony During The Pandemic.
For some of us – including me – remembering what life was even like before we were put on a corona-alert is becoming increasingly difficult to recollect. My realities are all mixed up. But even with that, I know that if there was ever a year that India would want to erase from its history, it would be 2020. We’ve constantly been in turmoil and now it’s wearing us down. If it weren’t corona that was coming at us, it was the political imbalance that had us shook. The imposition of the Citizenship Amendment Act had divided the nation into an ugly protesters and supporters narrative.
And while two months ago, imagining a scene of harmony and peace among the people coming from different opinions and religions seemed impossible. So to come across the news of a woman named Imrana Saifi visiting the Nav Durga Temple in North Delhi’s Nehru Vihar in a burqa to sanitise the place was like a breath of fresh air. Keeping aside the political differences and looking beyond the pettiness that came with dividing people based on what religion they belonged to, we were delighted to learn about the 32 year old Imrana Saifi and her initiative to sanitise religious grounds, with no discrimination.
A mother of three, Imrana works with a disinfectant spray provided by the welfare association and goes across sanitizing all the nearby temples, mosques and gurdwaras during such a sensitive time. When the time came to disinfect the Nav Durga temple, she not just did not just seek permission from the priest but was welcomed with respect and even helped out in spraying the disinfectant around the temple. And we can only imagine the sight of communal harmony that would have been.
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#IndiaAgainstCOVID19 | "I want to uphold the secular culture of India… want to send a message that we are all one," 32-year-old Imrana Saifi says https://t.co/mq26AsuIHh
(In partnership with @DettolIndia) pic.twitter.com/PP13USil3s
— NDTV (@ndtv) May 7, 2020
With a strong intention of helping people out, even the ones who faced violence during the CAA protests in February, she has her own team of corona-warriors, comprising of three other women that support her in her duties and keep the cause going. She even said, ” I want to uphold the secular culture of India. I want to send a message that we are all one and we will stay together.” She further mentioned how, “We aren’t stopped by the temple priest or anyone else and we haven’t faced any difficulty as of now.”
Meanwhile the priest at the Nav Durga temple admitted to how, “Such steps are welcome for communal harmony and we must support each other. We must discard hatred and adopt love and be the each other’s well-wishers.” As Imrana works to make ends meet during this time of a pandemic, she holds an optimistic approach towards life as she said, “People are aware that it is a dangerous disease that is why we don’t face any problem on our sanitisation drive. The pandemic has brought the communities together,” and we couldn’t agree more. Perhaps, some good did come out of it, after all.
