Jammu: Bihar Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar on Monday said that late Mufti Muhammad Sayeed always believed in peaceful resolution of issues rather than acrimony or discord.
Delivering his speech of acceptance after receiving the Mufti Muhammad Sayeed award on Probity in Politics & Public Life here, the six-time Bihar Chief Minister said the Mufti had a firm belief that issues confronting a system can be resolved only through dialogue and negotiations. He said Mufti always gave a new direction to the position he occupied. Nitish said he enjoyed a long but intense relation with late Mufti Sayeed in whom he always found a leader who was concerned about the welfare of his people.
Nitish narrated his long association with the Mufti from the times of Jan Morcha, Janta Dal and later as his deputy in Home Ministry when late Mufti Sayeed became the first and so far only Muslim to head it. He said he also had an opportunity to work with him as the members of Political Affairs Committee of Janata Dal and later in different roles as well.
During 2003, as the Railway Minister, Nitish said, he worked with late Mufti Sayeed and found him very keen to extend railway network to Kashmir to rid the region off economic backwardness. “It was difficult to carry forward work on Udhampur-Katra-Baramulla rail link due to some communication gaps but he(late Mufti Sayeed) persuaded us to work on the project seriously”, he told the gathering. He said the late leader was very keen on preserving the heritage and old cultural pattern of the place and during the construction Srinagar Railway station he, as the Chief Minister, took keen interest in maintaining and preserving the grandeur of the place.
Earlier, the Bihar Chief Minister was conferred with the first Mufti Muhammad Sayeed award on Probity in Politics & Public Life by Governor, N. N. Vohra during a function here today.
On the occasion, renowned economist, columnist and British Parliamentarian, Lord Meghnad Desai also delivered the first Mufti Memorial Lecture on the subject Devolving Power: The British Experience in which he traced the legal and constitutional journey of the British society.
Governor, N. N. Vohra chaired the function while as Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti; Deputy Chief Minister, Dr. Nirmal Singh; Bihar Deputy Chief Minister, Sushil Modi; Ministers, legislators, public representatives, officers, intellectuals and people from different walks of life attended the function.
