Sholapur (Maharashtra)
This was an Iftar party with a difference. As against the high profile social figures inviting peers to such parties during the month of Ramazan, this one had school children as guests and the host was the city Police chief.
On Wednesday, Harish Baijal, Commissioner of Police, Sholapur, Maharashtra organized an Iftar party for more than 100 primary school students and teachers belonging to the local Social Urdu Primary School and it was the first one of its kind.
The idea of the Iftar party came to Harish Baijal during his interaction with the students of the Urdu school as they were at his house to see an apiary he has created. Baijal is a big-time bird-lover and several school children have visited his bird sanctuary.
Police Commissioner Harish Baijal encouraging students to speak
While interacting with the visiting children, he noticed that most of them were fasting in the month of Ramazan. He was so impressed with the children's religious discipline that he decided to host an Iftar party for them at his residence.
He arranged a good iftar the very next day, with the ritual of azan (prayer) and salat (prayer) being performed by the children. Addressing the children the Commissioner said, "Respect and justice for all religions is a true patriotism."
Siraj Noorani, a social activist posted two video clips of the party on Twitter in which Commissioner Baijal and other police officials are seen serving the students and in the next a students is speaking of his experience:
"I am very fond of birds, there are about 100 birds of different breeds, so I invite the students of the different schools to enjoy the company of birds and get close to nature," said Harish.
Students from several English medium, Marathi medium, and government schools had been to his apiary but for no specific reasons, the Urdu-medium schools were not included. One day during a function, the headmaster of Social Urdu School Asif Iqbal raised this issue with Baijal and this led the students of his school and the staff of the school to see the birds.
“I love spending time with the kids and it's an effective way to connect directly with the community,” said Baijal.
Asif Iqbal appreciated the initiative of the city police commissioner and said, "the IPS officer has set a great example and shown us how to respect and love other religions, which can clear up misunderstandings among the people and lead to a powerful and secular country," he said.
Police Commissioner Harish Baijial posing with his guests for a picture
Asif said that Iftar was very well organized, all arrangements were made beautifully, we were accorded the hospitality reserved for high officials, I must say that officers like Bejal Sahib are the secular fabric of our beloved nation. I pray for more strength for such people and our brotherhood.
Mantasha Imran Sheikh and Arman Qazi, two students who attended the party shared their experiences with the police officers through Muslim Mirror.
He said that for the first time we saw the policemen in uniform so closely. “The commissioner was very polite to us; he joined us in Iftar, showed us his birds, and told us the importance of nature.”
Harish Baijal hails from the Jalna district of Maharashtra and is a 2005 batch IPS officer.
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