No kudos is enough for Ajmer Sharif Dargah committee for rendering yeoman’s service to nearly 1200 pilgrims and migrant workers --- helping them reach Bengal who had got stranded in the pilgrimage centre for months.
By coordinating with Railways and Government of Rajasthan and West Bengal, the Ajmer-Dankuni special train had been arranged and sponsored by the Dargah Committee by paying Rs.8.28 lakh for the tickets food water masks and sanitisers! The Khadims(Servants of God) of the Ajmer Dargah have made donations in personal capacities too!
The committee has also arranged buses for people of other states too with total payment from its fund being about Rs.50 lakh!
Though our ultimate identity is Human beings; still in these times of tarnishing particular communities in bad light, it needs to be emphasised that a significant section of the beneficiaries were Hindus also!
Instead of character assassinating particular communities, the communal brigade should try to enlighten their dark mindset through such graceful act of the concerned authorities of Ajmer Dargah and ask what other religious shrines are doing for the helpless stranded people by sitting upon huge treasury of gold bars and Himalayan cash! It is high time individuals to religious institutions appreciate that “To serve humanity is to serve God” by drawing inspiration from Ajmer Dargah.
And also special mention for the neighbours of the Pals --- only Hindu family in that Sijberia neighbourhood of Howrah district in Bengal --- coincidentally all of whom being Muslims! With Rabindranath Pal passing away at night and the family at their wit’s end after getting refused by three crematoriums in the locality on suspicion associated with Covid-19; in came their neighbours in the morning and carried the body to a crematorium and attended till all rituals revolving the last rites were over! The heart-rending incident reminds us of another incident whereby the dead of the single Hindu family in Lohaitola village, Malda district was carried by their Muslim neighbours for the last rites amidst the lockdown and terror posed by Covid-19!
“Why is it so important that we are Muslims and that he was a Hindu? Our parents and then our generation grew up together. Religion never came up between us” --- Sheikh Younis Ali (neighbour of the Pals)
“How does it matter whether he was a Hindu or a Muslim? The only thing that matters is, HE HAS LEFT US FOREVER, LEAVING A VACUUM” --- Ali’s companion
Yes, these are very natural humane act of any sensible neighbour! Still these incidents deserve special mention as the current environment prevailing in India is not at all ideal in a constitutionally secular country. When absolutely innocent persons get stigmatised just because of their religious credential and given a bad name, these rare specimens of inter-religious harmony and cooperation definitely deserve special mention so as to give a fitting reply to hate-mongers.
(The views expressed are the writer’s own)
