By A Staff Writer
New Delhi: The Union Government launched “Progress Panchayath” on September 29 from Bichor village in Haryana in what is touted as the NDA Government’s Muslim outreach programme, as a follow-up of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement to this effect at the BJP National Executive meeting at Calicut two months ago. Minority Welfare Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi launched the programme at the village.
The programme will avail all the Union Govt’s welfare schemes. The Minister also inaugurated a 100-bed hostel for Muslim girls in the nearby Hathini village, and staff quarters for school staff in Nuh and Nagina villages, as part of the exercise. Naqvi addressed a meeting attended by nearly 3,000 villagers in Bichor. The next panchayath is scheduled to be inaugurated in Alwar district of Rajasthan. Alwar, Bharatpur and Nuh etc are part of the Mewat region which is inhabited by over a million Muslims who converted to Islam during the period of Alauddin Khilji. Most Mewati Muslims follow an amalgam of rites and rituals common to Hindus and Muslims in the region. It is the region where Shuddhi movement of Arya Samaj and Tablighi Jamaat took birth, both targeted at retaining the people following their traditional religion within their faith and community. Mr. Abbas said the positive programme of the NDA Government will take precedence over the destructive agenda of the communal forces.
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