Thangal flanked by leaders of the Congress and the IUML. From left, K. Shankaranarayanan, E. Ahamed, A.K. Antony and P.K Kunhalikutty (File photo: Special arrangement)
Tharoor elaborated: ."When Muslims stood up demanding retaliation, he was firm in ordering there should be no retaliation. He sent members of the League, many of his followers, directly to those communities where Hindu temples were located in Muslim majority areas. He told them I want you to ensure that none of these temples are harmed. It was an extraordinary gesture. There was a great deal of communal unrest and a lot of violence across the country. He sent his people to ensure that pilgrims to Sabarimala were safe,” said Tharoor.
Tharoor also shared something about Thangal that he learned in a recent visit to a place called Angadippuram in Malappuram district. “One night, there was a mysterious fire that damaged irreparably the precious ancient door of the Angadippuram temple. Some mischief-makers started spreading rumours that the door was damaged by Muslim vandals. When Shihab Thangal heard about it, he immediately said I don’t care who has done the wrong, the people who worship at this temple are my neighbours and I will take the responsibility and expense to replace that door,” Tharoor recounted.
“The third story is of an 'RSS-leaning' coconut tree,” he said. Indirectly quoting an
Outlook essay by Shajahan Madampat, he related the whole story.
“A coconut tree belonging to a Hindu household grew in such a way that it bent over the roof of a masjid made of clay tiles. The coconuts from this leaning tree kept falling on the masjid’s roof and breaking the tiles. It damaged the communal relations of the area. The Muslims demanded the tree must be cut down but the family was unwilling." Classic modern India communal conflict narrative.
The Masjid committee and the Hindu family approach Thangal. After Thangal heard the story, he took some money from his own pocket and said the roof of masjid has to be demolished and the clay tiles replaced with concrete.
In the community, there is a widespread belief that if the first money comes from Thangal himself, then the success of the project is assured with his blessings.
When the young Hindu representative told this to the mother of the family, she was struck with remorse. What a curse it would be to her family, she wondered.
She went to Thangal to apologise. Thangal received her with grace and in his famously soft manner said, ‘Do not cut the tree. Coconut tree is the elixir of life. It should be protected. What’s a roof. The tree is more important’.”
Speaking after Tharoor at the event, IUML national general secretary and Member of Parliament, P.K. Kunhalikutty said he was present with Thangal when he had taken the decisions on Angadippuram temple as well as in the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition. “The Babri Masjid demolition created a hot discussion in the party committee. Members said, ‘Ingane ninnal pora’ (We shouldn’t be like this). But Thangal was firm to say ‘Ingane ninnal mathi, ennittu ullath mathi’ (We should be only like this),” recalled Kunhalikutty.