New Delhi: The minority wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has started distributing tricolours to ‘dharm gurus’ (religious leaders) of various faiths, requesting them to hoist the national flag at places of worship including mosques, temples, mazaars and gurudwaras.
The BJP Minority Morcha’s national president, Jamal Siddiqui, told ThePrint that the tricolours were made by women in Kashmir and that the flags were being distributed across the country, including at religious places and institutions.
Siddiqui said he had presented a tricolour to the head of Nizamuddin Dargah in Delhi.
हर घर तिरंगा अभियान ॥
हज़रत निज़ामुद्दीन ( र.अ. ) के सज्जादा नशीन जनाब सैय्यद कासिफ नीजामी से मिलकर तिरंगा भेंट किया ॥ साथ में @yaserjilani @ चौधरी ज़ाकिर हुसैन @ जो जो जोश मौजूद थे । pic.twitter.com/hchN8PNh0D— Jamal Siddiqui (@JamalSiddiqui_) August 6, 2022
Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya Dargah sajjada nashin (administrator) Syed Kasif Nizami responded positively to the Minority Morcha’s request. Speaking to ThePrint, he said, “This is our country. It is our duty to hoist our national flag. I have personally appealed to everyone in the Nizamuddin vicinity also to hoist the tiranga at their homes. This is our pride. We will hoist one at the dargah’s gate and in the entire area too.”
Emphasising how freedom fighters had sacrificed their lives for Independence, Siddiqui said, “…we are fortunate to live in free India. A true tribute to them would be to celebrate their sacrifice and the Independence we got…The world should see it.”
“We might be Muslims, Hindus, and may celebrate our individual festivals separately, but this is desh ka festival (the country’s festival), and everyone needs to celebrate it together to show our unity. I have appealed to all the dharm gurus, too, to celebrate this festival together by hosting it (the flag) at their premises,” he added.
Siddiqui said he was receiving positive replies from religious leaders. “Considering it is not a religious flag, no one should have any apprehension in hoisting it, as no religion prohibits hoisting the national flag,” he said.
“Our workers are requesting the religious leaders to hoist the national flag at their premises. Dharam se pehle desh hai (the country comes before religion). We should hoist our national flag, which is our pride, at all the places.”
According to party sources, the Minority Morcha has undertaken the task of hoisting the national flag at religious places and institutions as part of the ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign, to encourage citizens to hoist the flag in the runup to Independence Day. A senior BJP functionary of the front said the morcha plans to unfurl the tricolour at around 10,000 places across the country.
Siddiqui also said out that under Azadi ka Amrit Mahostav, the government’s initiative to celebrate 75 years of Independence, a campaign has been launched to celebrate ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ at the booth level across the country.
“I met religious leaders in Manipur, Nagaland and now Delhi, requesting them to hoist the tricolour from August 13 to 15. Not only this, we are going ahead with a similar request to religious and community leaders across the country,” he said.
According to the initial plan, all national executive committee (NEC) members of the Minority Morcha will be given at least 75 national flags for hoisting at religious places and institutions.
Each of these NEC members — there are more than 100 — will personally hand over 75 national flags to religious places and institutions, another party functionary said.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: Why no tricolour in RSS ‘ghar’ to mark PM Modi’s ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ initiative, asks Oppn