In 1966, Hamid Shaikh and Lata Kale tied the nuptial knot in Pune amidst a barrage of morchas, threats and stone-pelting. Thirty two years later, the two remain devoted to each other as also their respective religion

The flowering romance between two commoners, Hamid Shaikh, a Muslim, and Lata Kale, a Hindu, that culminated in marriage, has created an unprecedented uproar in this conservative city. Acharya Atre, the editor of the popular daily Maratha, has triggered off a cascade of emotions through his stinking editorial over this marriage. What has irked the public�s sensibilities further is the partners� decision to retain their religious identities, with either refusing to convert to the spouse�s religion. It is amidst a barrage of morchas, threats and stone-pelting that the two tied the nuptial knot.

That was 26 years ago. The couple that stirred such an emotional maelstrom are still happily married, and have a daughter Sayalee, who is a Science graduate. Unlike other cases of much-publicised marriages where couples having royal lineage or belonging to the families of politicians become the centre of controversy, the Hamid-Lata marriage came to be discussed in newspaper columns and was fought against on the streets for different reasons. Neither of them was a celebrity, nor were their parents. The reason for attracting such adverse publicity was two-fold: marrying a person following a different religion and, worse, refusal of either of them to convert to the other�s religion after the marriage.

Nowadays hardly an eyebrow is raised when persons of different religions decide to marry. Nevertheless, the Hamid-Lata marriage stands unique even today. Both of them are theists and yet their personal religious beliefs have not created any problems in their family life.

Recalling the controversy over his marriage, Hamid Shaikh, now 52 and Regional Manager of Sarabhai Chemicals, says that the storm created over his marriage in newspaper columns and on the streets was most unexpected. Then 28 and employed in the Public Health Department, he had fallen in love with his colleague, Lata. When they decided to choose each other as life partners, both of them thought opposition to their inter-religious marriage would be restricted to their respective families alone. But that was not the case.

The real trouble started when Acharya Atre, editor of Maratha, then a popular Marathi daily, wrote an editorial in his newspaper with a heading, �A new Qazi episode in Pune.� (He had referred to Hamid Shaikh as �Qazi�, a word which had a special connotation in this case. Qazi was one of the characters in Acharya Atre�s famous Marathi play, To Mee Navech! who cheats young innocent girls).

The adverse publicity in the newspaper aroused the fanatical forces in Hindu as well as Muslim communities to the havoc the marriage was likely to create. Several columns in the newspapers were filled, condemning the marriage. Leaders of fanatical organizations belonging to both the communities had only one, and yet diametrically opposite, demand.

The Muslim leaders wanted Lata Kale to embrace Islam while the Hindu leaders demanded that Hamid Shaikh should embrace their own religion. Marrying a person of another religion and yet refusing to convert oneself or forcing the spouse to convert was something unheard of, and according to these leaders, a serious threat to cultural and religious traditions.

When a reception was hosted in honour of the bridal couple at the city-based office of Sadhana, a Marathi weekly, the situation outside was tense. Baburao Jagtap and Wrangler Paranjape of the Jati Nirmulan Samiti (Caste Eradication Committee) were the chief guests at the reception. Prior to the reception, many threats were issued to the bridal couple and socialist leader, Shirubhau Limaye, and editor of Sadhana, Yadunath Thatte, who had backed the inter-religious marriage.

While the speeches at the reception congratulated the newly-married couple, the mob outside the hall greeted the couple with �Hamid-Lata Murdabad� slogans. The vehicle of the bridal couple was pelted with stones while the socialist leader, Bhai Vaidya, was manhandled while he was entering a bus. The furore did not end even after the marriage ceremony and the couple had to be provided protection by plain clothesmen for many days after the marriage.

"Among the persons who stood solidly behind us during the crisis were Shirubhau Limaye and Yadunath Thatte," says Shaikh. "It was Thatte, Lata�s uncle, who put before me all the pros and cons of our inter-religious marriage; he made me aware of all the problems we would face. But once we had made up our mind, he supported us totally.

And as far as Shirubhau is concerned, he has almost adopted me after the marriage, he adds. The marriage had estranged the relations of Hamid and Lata with their families and therefore, after the marriage, Shirubhau arranged accommodation for the couple at his own residence in Sadashiv Peth where the couple has been living for the last 25 years.

The estranged families of Hamid and Lata reconciled a few months after the wedding. Opposition to the couple too faded out soon. Contrary to the earlier apprehension by others, the couple did not face any problems despite the fact that neither of them had changed their religious beliefs. When their daughter, Sayalee, was admitted into the school, they registered her religion as �Indian�.

In the present male dominated society, most of the inter-religious marriages take place with the bride embracing the religion of the bridegroom and the term �inter-religious marriage� thus becomes meaningless. When Bombay Doordarshan conducted an interview of about 125 couples whose marriages were inter-religious, Hamid and Lata stood distinguished among them. Among all the other couples the wives had sacrificed their religious beliefs for marrying a person of another religion.

The atmosphere in the Shaikh family is truly secular. A crucifix shares the same wall which is adorned by a picture of Lord Ganesh. "We celebrate all the Hindu as well as Muslim festivals and also attend the Christmas midnight mass," says Hamid Shaikh, adding, "Our daughter is brought up in a secular atmosphere and she is free to follow any religion of her choice." n

Camil Parkhe
(The Indian Express special supplement, Citizen, April 6, 1992)