Jaipur : Grabbing the offering given by a visiting dignitary at the holy shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti at Ajmer often causes embarrassment .
Various factions in the dargah ( holy shrine) press their claims to grab the offering made by a visiting dignitary as a ritual. On Saturday when the Bangladeshi president Mohammed Abdul Hamid visited the shrine with his wife Rashida Khanum,they were greeted with the beating of drum at the gate of the Akbari Masjid.
Such welcome to a person is given only if he is a person like the head of state.
The president offered prayer at the Nizam gate and when the president was about to offer the envelop carrying the offering various faction’s person stood before him claiming that they were authorised to receive the offering. On suggestion by the Bangladesh mission’s official in Delhi the President handed over the envelop carrying Rs 1.25 lakh to Asrar Ahmed, the president of the dargah committee. But Syed Akil Chisti, the khadim ( god’s servant) who helped President Hamid to perform the rituals at the holy shrine saw the envelop, he claimed that as the President’s khadim, he has the first right to take the offering made by the President. He also pressed the claim that the Bangladesh mission had hired him to do the ritual.
The office bearers of the Anjuman, a committee which look after the dargah joined the fray and demanded that the money should come to the Anjuman.
The various factions almost scuffled before the President to grab the envelop of offerings. However, when the police came and intervened it was decided that the Rs 1.25 should go to the Anjuman.
Prakash Bhandari
