Prime Minister’s chadar offered at Ajmer dargah, recorded message played

Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti’s teachings of universal brotherhood and peaceful coexistence will continue to inspire and guide us, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday.

Modi offered a chadar — a ceremonial cloth inscribed with religious verses — at Chishti’s mausoleum on the Sufi saint’s 806th annual Urs. Union Minister for minority affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi offered the chadar on Modi’s behalf.

In a video message, played out on TV screens placed at the Sufi shrine, the PM said, “India, as a nation, cannot be described in words. It has to be felt. Peace, unity, universal brotherhood, and social cohesiveness are intrinsic to the various philosophies in this sub-continent. Sufism is also one of them”.

“Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti appears as one of the greatest symbols of Sufism, which showed the path of peaceful coexistence to millions of Indians. Garib Nawaz is an icon of Indian spiritual teachings and practices. His teachings of universal brotherhood will continue to guide us in times to come,” the PM said.

Modi said that Garib Nawaz considered service to the humanity as the best form of ‘ibaadat’ (worship) and his services to mankind “will continue to be a source of inspiration for us and many more generations to come.”

Modi said he wished for “harmonious co-existence” of various aspects of Indian culture. “Greetings and best wishes to the followers of Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti across the world on the annual Urs,” he added.