A coffee table book in aid of Bahadur Shah Zafar's descendants
Submitted by admin4 on 4 January 2010 - 12:57pm
By IANS,
New Delhi : Sultana Begum, the great granddaughter of the last Mughal emperor of India, Bahadur Shah Zafar, has found an unusual saviour - a coffee table book on the former prime ministers of India.
The book, 'The Prime Ministers of India - 1947-2009' has been compiled by journalist Shivnath Jha and his teacher wife Neena Jha to raise money for Sultana Begum's rehabilitation. Sultana Begum, a poor widow with four daughters, sells tea in a kiosk in Shibpur, a semi-urban township, 80 km southwest of Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal.
When I came across her in 2008, the 56-year-old woman who lives in a slum of gold panners - an impoverished community from Bihar which sifts waste water used by the goldsmiths to produce traces of the metal - looked like just another squatter, Jha told IANS.
Her 8 ft by 8 ft dwelling in the slums of Cowies Ghat belied the fact that her forefathers once ruled the subcontinent. She had nothing left. I decided to help her make a better life, Jha said.
The journalist and his wife, who had earlier helped raise funds for shehnai maestro Bismillah Khan and legendary Maratha freedom fighter Tantiya Tope's descendants Vinayak Rao Tope, hit upon the idea to profile the prime ministers of India with a group of like-minded friends and politicians.
I intend to raise Rs.500,000 for her and deposit it in a bank so that she has a steady income. A school in Kolkata has also agreed to give her a job and the owner of a pharmaceutical company will donate an apartment to Sultana Begum, Jha said.
Her youngest daughter will be married in March with the money raised by the benefactors.
The book chronicles regimes of Indian prime ministers, including Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, V.P. Singh, Chandra Shekhar, P.V. Narasimha Rao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, H.D. Deve Gowda, I.K. Gujral and Manmohan Singh, through texts and photographs.
The text throws light on the personalities of the prime ministers, their achievements and political developments during their rule.
The photographs were shot by Vijender Tyagi and several other photographers.
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IT is just shameful for us to
IT is just shameful for us to hear such history and one should fear of the wheel of fortune. This is not one day job and people are working 24x7 as Ghoons/deemak. Wonder if we are really fit to be among good and faithful people and are worthy to have grand structures. I am also thinking as to why one should take extra pain for others. Hear, how God has snatched goodies when public were not thankful. Afsos
faruqi
Fake strory by fake lady??????????
* Amongst the many false claiments to Mughal descent is a woman named Sultana Begum of Calcutta. In her correspondence with Sonia Gandhi the lady asserts that her late husband, a supposed second son of Jamshid Bakht:"Bedar Bukht was the descendant of Bahadur Shah Zafar and Zeenat Mahal. When the emperor was exiled in Rangoon in 1857, he was kept in confinement along with Zeenat Mahal and only surviving son Jawan Bukht. After the death of the emperor, Jawan Bukht married while still under house arrest. A son, Jamshed Bukht, was born to him. He later married Nadir Jahan, daughter of Piare Mian, a small-time hardware merchant of Lucknow. Their son, born in 1920, is Sultana's husband Bedar Bukht." It is told that Piare Mian smuggled in Bedar Bukht into India. And, young Bedar grew up in Kolkata with his identity under wraps for fear of incurring the wrath of the British. It was only after Independence that Bedar revealed his identity”. While all that may neatly explain away the actual fact that are no records of this Bedar Bakht in the official papers of pre-independence India or Burma, it does not quite explain away the supposed need for secrecy in the first place. Prince Jamshed, Prince Sikandar and Princess Raunaq Begum were well known in Rangoon cicles. They were in receipt of British government pensions, managed the Mazar of Bahadur Shah Zafar, participated in legal actions in the Burmese courts and municipality and socialised with British officials. None of those who have taken up or given credence to her story seem to have stopped themselves to ask why the need for secrecy over this particular child or why would he have been in any greater danger than his supposed elder brother or other supposed near relatives.
This lady when married Jamshid Bakht has a son from an earlier marriage..All her daughters are all named to her current husband - A Sikh Sardar who runs this Drama.
Please go and see and meet her family in Calcutta or Bomaby all fake......
Decendents of Bahadur Shah Zafar
Bahadur Shah Zafar who was also a poet of Urdu and Persian rightly said in his couplet that "KHUSH RAHO AHLE WATAN HAM TO SAFAR KARTE HAIN"
but what about the future of his family he did not expect from Ahle Watan, We people are so selfish, we lead our life for only ourself (individual) but Zafar and other freedom fighter fought war for nation Bharat, India, Hidustan......not for their family and clan..... Lets start thinking about these people... It may be possible that due to the heat of nationalism your heart may give same space for our real freedom fighter and their family..............members...........think again...........for the sake of nation and its root...of revolution.....freedom movement etc........
BHADUR SHAH KAY BADH NASEEB AULAADH
KITHNAY BAD NASEEB HAYYEEN ZAFAR KAY AWLAAD. AYAIKH GHAR BHEE NAHEE HAI REHMAY KAY LEEAAA
S.M.PASHA
This error must be corrected by individual, Govt or coprate sect
This is the real destination of a nationalist leader (Bahadur Shah Zafar)of India who fought mutiny in 1857 (Gaddar) against British Empire....Now its too late to correct big mistake,. Crore of money uselessly spend but these nationalist and emperor descendants Sultana Begam and her family must be supported by the Indian Government, State or corporate secror,,,,but its astonish to see the condition of our past king family.... I feel Shame to say i am the real Indian and we are the people who care all these things.....
Now its time to come forward for the help of not only this family but many family who was belog's to our glorious past....
I request you all please
I request you all please support by buying a book, it will be great help for our mission
Request to all
I request to all that come forward give her the place which a king grand children deserve....
Sultana Banu -Bahadurshah zafar
I am amased to see children of former kings and Nawabs who supported British are enjoying wealth and power in modern India. Sindhiyas, Gayekwads, Nizams and many more are the examples. While children of Great Bahadurshah Zafar, Tatya Tope, Tipu sultan are beggers because their forfathers did not support British and fought with them. Indian government must help these unfortunate people and provide decent living. Its shame on us that we dont support fridom fighters.
THE PRINCE OF ARCOT
ONE SUCH GLARING EXAMPLE IS THE PRINCE OF ARCOT IN CHENNAI. IT IS BEYOND MY KEN AS TO WHY THE DESCENDANT OF BOOTLICKERS OF THE BRITISHERS AND FOES OF FREEDOM FIGHTERS BE GIVEN A LOFTY PENSION, A HUGE PALACE AND A GRAND TITLE ETC.,
S.M.PASHA
What a sad legacy to the
What a sad legacy to the mighty Mughal Empire.
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