இறுதி மொகல் பேரரசர் குடும்பத்துக்கு இந்து அமைப்பு உதவி

இறுதி மொகல் பேரரசரான பகதூர் ஷா ஜாபர் குடும்பத்துக்கு இந்து கோவில் அமைப்பு உதவ முன்வந்துள்ளது.

கடைசி மொகல் பேரரசரின் கொள்ளுப்பேத்தி சுலதானா பேகம் அவர்கள் கல்கத்தாவில் வறுமையில் வாடுவதை கேள்விப்பட்டு, பாட்னாவின் மகாவீர் மந்திர் டிரஸ்ட் அமைப்பு அவர்களது குடும்பத்தினருக்கு உதவவும், அவர்களது வீட்டு பிள்ளைகள் படிக்க செலவுக்கு உதவவும் முன்வந்துள்ளது.

பாராட்டவேண்டிய நிகழ்வு


Hindu trust offers job to Bahadur Shah's kin
Posted on : Fri, 30 Mar 2007 07:58:01 GMT | Author : Indo Asian News Service
News Category : Religion (General)

Patna, March 30 A Hindu temple trust in Bihar has offered a job and free education to the impoverished family members of India's last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar's great granddaughter-in-law Sultana Begum.

This humane gesture of communal harmony comes in a year that India celebrates the 150th year of the first war of independence in 1857 - a war fought under the leadership of Zafar.


The Patna-based Mahavir Mandir Trust has offered a job to a member of Kolkata-based Sultana Begum's family and free education to her grandson to mark their respect for Zafar, whose contribution to sectarian harmony and national integration is legendary.

'The temple trust has offered a job to any member of her family in any secular institution and free education to her grandson to pay our respects to Bahadur Shah Zafar ' said trust secretary Kishore Kunal here.

Sultana Begum, who is in her early 50s, is in Bihar along with a minor grandson on a mission to spread the message of peace and create awareness about Zafar's contributions to society.

'I was honoured when the trust offered a job for a family member and free education to my grandson. It is a great thing to happen, I will not forget this in my lifetime,' said an emotionally charged Sultana Begum, who is the wife of the late Mirza Mohammad Bedar Bakht, the great grandson of Bahadur Shah Zafar.

Bakht was born in Rangoon where the British government had imprisoned his great grandfather. After India's independence, Bakht return to India and married Sultana Begum in 1965.

Sultana Begum, who lives off a small scrap shop in a Kolkata slum along with half a dozen family members, also visited a Sikh shrine - the Patna Saheb Gurdwara - and a tomb of a Muslim saint at Phulwarisharif near here.

'We have been struggling for survival. There was virtually no help from the West Bengal government or the central government,' she added.

With a meagre pension of Rs.400 since 1980, she has seen near penury after her husband died. 'There was no change in my pension but prices of rice and wheat increased manifold. The pension provided by the government hardly allows us to get foods for four days. But who cares for us despite our historical background?' she lamented.

Sultana Begum has set up the Bahadur Shah Zafar Memorial Trust in West Bengal, with the aim of making people aware of the contributions made by the last Mughal emperor. 'I want to spread the message of communal harmony of the last Mughal emperor among the youth,' she said.

The trust will hold a poetry meet in Kolkata on April 22. She also plans to revive Zafar's famous 'Phul Walon ki Sair' (floral tour).


(c) Indo-Asian News Service