Stuck in a past century

Known for its historical importance, Murshidabad in West Bengal is stuck in history in more ways than one. Even in 2012, the sweepers at the Motijheel Mosque & Cemetery in Murshidabad draws a salary of Rs 5 per month. The superintendent is slightly better off, with Rs 50 per month.

There are other shocking salaries as well. The Khatib of the Mosque, Janab Jatrdis Seikh, gets Rs 10, Moajjem Riasat Hossain gets Rs 8, Jahur Seikh (the gardener) get Rs 25.50 and Md Amjad Hossain (also gardener) gets Rs 23.50 per month. There are four people who read the Holy Quran in the mosque. Two of them – Abdul Gaffar Seikh and Erfan Ali – get Rs 8 each while Quasa Karigar gets Rs 7 and Akbar Hossain gets Rs 5 per month. Night guard Mobarak Hossain gets Rs 13 and two women employees, Sama Bewa and Bhanu Bibi, both employed as sweepers, get Rs 7 and Rs 5 respectively.

According to official documents, available with TSI, these employees of Motijheel Mosque get their salary “out of the stipends of Nawab Nazim of the then Bengal, Bihar and Orissa and is still lying with Government of India, classified Ministry of Home Affairs, 150, North Block, New Delhi 110001 under final Major Head of 2075 and Minor Head of 102.” This means, the salary of these employees is sanctioned by the MHA and the sub-divisional officer disburses it through the block development officer.

Let’s quote a part of a letter No 611-MD(V)/18P-16/04 dated 7.12.2009, signed by the joint secretary of the minority affairs and madrasah education department of the West Bengal government. He writes, “The Motijheel Mosque and Cemetery is a very important historical spot in the district of Murshidabad. Mawazesh Md. Khan, son-in-law of Nawab Ali Vardi Khan and subedar of then Bengal, Bihar and Orissa and Ekramoddulla, younger brother of Nawab Sirajuddullah and grandson of Nawab Ali Vardi Khan, are buried here. Thousands and thousands (approx 5 lakh) of visitors from India and abroad pay visit to this important mosque and cemetery every year,” he wrote to Sayed Akhtar Hussain, the deputy secretary to the ministry of minority affairs of the Government of India.

While these people have taken their issue to the politicians' doors, leaders of all colours and party have ignored their demands. They have met these employees whenever an election was around, assured them of taking up their issue at the right forum and then forgot all about them. So their plight continues. Their salaries were last increased in 1902, more than a century back.

Superintendent Md Arif Hossain told TSI, “We met Forward Bloc leader Chhaya Ghosh, the then minister of the state government, who was our local MLA. All the documents were handed over to her. But no movement was reported from her side. Present MLAisyet to be approached, but our unrest requests to last MLA of this constituency, Bibhas Chakraborty (Forward Bloc), also failed. He did nothing.”

Mannan Hossain, the Congress MP from Murshidabad is also aware of their plight and again ‘did nothing,’ alleged Arif. Riasat Hossain. The Moajjem of the mosque said, “Mannan Hossain visited this mosque to pay namaz before he was elected to Parliament for the first time in 2004. We briefed him and he said that this would be his first responsibility as an MP. Since then a lot of water has flown through the Bhagirathi on the banks of which the mosque is situated. He seems to have forgotten his promise.” The other MP of this district and heavyweight Congress leader Adhir Chowdhury was also approached, said Arif. “He at least moved a bit for our cause and approached the ministry.” And here ended the politician's responsibility.

The past efforts and their experience have only turned futile and standard of their lifestyle has only declined. Some people adviced them to keep faith on third, the Trinamool Congress-led government of Mamata Banerjee, but Arif and others now started to distrust every politicians.

Finally, it was the Archeological Society of India (ASI) has taken it over. The ASI has been trying to add it as the state’s 134th place of historical importance under their maintenance. Md. Arif and his colleagues could protect the muslim’s right of prayer at the Masjid. Though ASI has taken over the Masjid, the vast jheel is out of their purview. It is under the Fisheries Department of the state government.

65 year old ‘Chhote Nawab’ or S.M. Reza Ali Khan, is happy with the development. The eighth generation descendant of Nawab Mir Jaffar, has long been vocal about the neglect of ASI towards other historical places of Murshidabad. “The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) focuses only on Hazarduari. Sangh Dalan, the palace of last independent nawab Sirajuddaullah’s maternal aunt Ghasiti Begum; Motijheel, the 750-acre lake once used for pearl cultivation, never paid due attention by the ASI. The adjoining Motijheel mosque is in a shambles”, he told TSI few months back.