NewDelhi: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will be beginning her India visit from the much-revered Nizamuddin Dargah here on Monday (September 5). The holy Sufi shrine has been an important pilgrimage site for both PM Hasina and her father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman for more than half a century. During the visit, PM Hasina is expected to meet Syed Basit Nizami who is the Sajjada Nashin or successor of a Sufi master who is custodian or trustee at the shrine. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman used to come to meet his Grandfather–Syed Mohamad Miya Nizami, and Sheikh Hasina his father, Kabir Uddin Nizami.
In a conversation with Media, Syed Basit said, “PM Hasina’s Father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman used to come to my grandfather, then after his death, Sheikh Hasina used to come to meet my father. She met my father, both in Dhaka and Delhi and even today, she remembers my father by face. I will be meeting her for the first time. I am hopeful that the meeting will be good.”
The almost 700-year-old Dargah is the nerve center of Sufi culture in India and PM Hasina has been a regular visitor of the famous Nizamuddin Dargah during her stay in Delhi from 1975 to 1981 after the assassination of her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. After the assassination of Bangabandhu, the then Indian PM, Indira Gandhi, had given asylum to Sheikh Hasina and her sister Sheikh Rehana.
Interestingly, it was on 9th April 1981, Sheikh Hasina visited the holy place that gave her the strength to go back to her country and fight against those who were responsible for the killing her father. During that visit, she was given a document, written by her father during his visit to the shrine on 9th April 1946, a moment that she still cherishes.
Syed Basit Nizami pointed, “If she is coming, she is coming with a wish. I will do dua for her, like my father and grandfather did. I hope, she goes from here happy.”
Sheikh Hasina has been to the Nizamuddin Dargah in 1997 but the upcoming visit will be the first visit in her capacity as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She will be on India visit from 5th to 8th September, during which she will hold talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with key focus on connectivity, water sharing.
During her India stay, she will not only visit the Dargah in Delhi, but also the Ajmer sharif Dargah in Rajasthan. The Bangladeshi Prime Minister has been Ajmer Sharif in 2017 and before that in 2010, when she became the prime minister of her country for the 2nd time.
Farid Ahmed Nizami, custodian of Dargah Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia said, “Sheikh Hasina will be coming to the Dargah on 5th September. She has an old connection with the Dargah through her father, who used to visit the place. She has been here in the past”. In the past, Nizamuddin Dargah has witnessed seen many foreign dignitaries visiting the holy place. These include Saudi Arabia’s King Faisal, leaders from Iran, Iraq and Pakistan’s Pervez Musharraf and Hina Rabbani Khar. Clearly, the dargah has a spiritual and a diplomatic significance in the region and beyond.
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