Thirty-eight year-old Ragesh Babu stopped running his autorickshaw about five months ago, and is currently recuperating at MIMS Hospital, Kozhikode, after a major kidney surgery. On Friday last, 20 mosques within the limits of Malappuram municipality joined a fund-raising drive for Ragesh’s treatment. And those mosques raised ₹1.38 lakh within minutes after the Juma prayers.
It did not surprise anyone who attended the Juma prayers when they saw volunteers holding out buckets labelled ‘Ragesh Babu treatment fund’. For them, Ragesh’s religion did not matter. What mattered for them was humanity.
Many viewed the instance of mosques raising funds for Ragesh as a Malappuram model of communal harmony. “We did not even think about his religion when we decided to raise funds for his treatment. We were exploring all possible sources for the funds, and mosques were just one source,” said Basim Pari, secretary of the Ragesh Babu Treatment Aid Committee.
