'I Made A Mistake': After Refusing To Bring Mother Back Home To Jharkhand Over Religion, Son Regrets
When ETV Bharat team visited Dahupagar village in Godda district in Jharkhand, Madan, running a modest grocery store, admitted his fault of dishonouring his mother.
Published : February 26, 2026 at 12:11 PM IST
By Ranjit Kumar Rathod
Godda (Jharkhand)/Kolkata: He tossed and turned in the bed that night when he realised what he had done. The words he had uttered while speaking to his mother “I cannot accept you because of your religion” kept bothering him. The sentence felt heavier than the 18 years that had separated them. Sitting in his small grocery shop in Dahupagar village of Godda district of Jharkhand, 33-year-old Madan Besra was contemplating on his future course of action when ETV Bharat team visited him.
He seemed reluctant initially to speak but expressed his regret finally, understanding that he had wounded the one person who had once carried him through hunger, loss and exile.
“I love my mother and whatever I said was by mistake. She can follow any religion. I will bring her home,” he now says, his voice subdued. This realisation came two days after he had refused to accept Sushila Murmu, his mother who had waited all these years to come home and stay with the son.
The story began 25 years ago.
Sushila, now over 60 years of age, had converted to Christianity before her marriage to Rajendra Besra, a Hindu from Dahupagar village. When her husband died, everything around her crumbled. Neighbours and villagers allegedly ostracised her when she was already mourning her loss and battling with poverty. Unable to bear the social hostility, she left the village.
Her journey ended in Kolkata, but not without struggles which were enough to break someone. In 2001, a member of the Missionaries of Charity rescued her and took her to a shelter home. Over time, the institution became her refuge and she spent the last 20 years or more in the same shelter. The details of how she reached the city have faded from her memory, but the longing for her children and her wish to return home never did.
Hope resurfaced unexpectedly through the efforts of the Ham Radio West Bengal Club. Its editor, Ambarish Nag Biswas, and his team traced her ancestral home in Dahupagar after learning about her case from a shelter worker. After a lot of coordination and painstaking efforts, they connected Madan Besra with Sushila.
But the reunion's result was not welcoming. Overwhelmed but unable to take a call about his mother's return, Madan told Sushila that unless she accepts Hinduism, her homecoming is impossible. “Mother, you have adopted another religion. How can I accept you?” he said.
For Sushila, the words were a little difficult to digest. “I will never give up my religion and my son told me he cannot take me back unless I accept another religion. That was my last word with him,” she had said.
However, Madan said, sometime back he had gone to Kolkata in search of work and located his mother with great effort. He had promised to bring her back. They spoke regularly over the phone even after he returned to Godda. It was a call two days ago when he repeated his refusal.
Speaking to ETV Bharat team, Madan admitted he had not realised the gravity of his words. “I made a mistake. I will go back to her soon. She is my mother. She can practise any religion,” he said remorsefully.
On a telephonic call however, Sushila, still at the Kolkata shelter, says there was a misunderstanding. Despite everything, she wants to live with her son. And now, her son says he wants the same. "I visited my son sometime back in the village which has many Christian families. I have no qualms about my son, he cares for me. If he comes to take me, I will go and stay with him forever," she said.
Ambarish Nag Biswas, who has reunited many lost people with their families, remains hopeful that the wall of division will finally vanish and love will win.
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