Suresh Chauhanwas disgusted with the senseless and barbaric murder of Lee Rigby. He told Asian World “the murder was a race hate action, carried out in name of a faith.Such acts are just not compatible in a civilised society and need to be discouraged.If not, disharmony among our society would ensue and we all would suffer.” The story of this solider left Suresh thinking he wanted to do something to show that what happened will not break communities but unite them and more importantly Suresh wanted Solider Rigbys son Jack has a bright and prosperous future.
He told Asian World “I started on this project on 24th May, two days after the brutal murder.In my mind, the brutal murder looked bad on multiculturalism. I feared backlash on all of us and was worried that it would set back thecause of racial harmony. The likes of EDL and BNP do not differentiate between who is a Hindu and who is a Muslim.”
The murder had not just left the country in shock but also a youngbereavedwidow, Rebecca and also a fatherless two year old son called Jack.
Suresh’s plan was to negate all of the above and attempt to show the normal, caring and tolerant nature of our communities. “I came up with this plan to provide a significant support, about £6K a year, forJack. The support would last till Jack became 21 years of age.This would be a sort of natural cut off point as one can assume, that being an adult, he can look after himself from then on,” Suresh told us.
Before Suresh put his idea into action he said “I consulted close friends and other faith leaders, locally and nationally. It seemed that everybody thought this was a wonderful idea but nobody in UK was attempting anything like this so, I amassed some active support and formed a small committee which included ZuffarHaq, a local Muslim campaigner, JawaahirDaahir and MarayanAnshur, two local prominent Somali community workers, SurinderRai, a worker in the Siklh community, Steve Nizzar, a playwright and SukiVerk, a local film producer.”
Rebecca, Lee’s widow was pleasantly surprised and glad for Suresh and his supporter’s efforts.
A local law firm offered to draw up the Trust free of charge. A local bank agreed to open a Trust account, also free of charge. Then, the team was left with the simple task of raising the £120K funding for the Trust. “We have also organised a fund raising dinner on 18th October at a prominent venue in Leicester where the Rigby Family will come.The South Asian community can help tremendously by offering to get involved in this project,” Suresh ended in saying.
If anyone would like to help this great cause than you can contact Suresh directly on 07970 800913 or e/mail, suresh.chauhan@btinternet.com.
By By Emb Hashmi
