Iftar provided on board Shatabdi Express; catering staff wins hearts
New Delhi, Apr 26: Shahnawaz Akhtar, a passenger on board the Howrah-Ranchi Shatabdi Express, was pleasantly surprised on Tuesday when iftar was offered to him on the train as he was about to break his Ramzan fast.
While the IRCTC serves "Upwas Meals" during Navratri for Hindu passengers, no such service is available during Ramzan, an official said.
"Thank you #IndianRailways for the #Iftar. As soon as I boarded Howrah #Shatabdi at Dhanbad, I got my snacks. I requested the pantry man to bring tea little late as I am fasting. He confirmed by asking, aap roza hai? I nodded in yes. Later someone else came with iftar," Akhtar wrote on Twitter and also posted a photograph of the meal served to him on the train.
IRCTC officials said the meal for Akhtar was arranged by the on-board catering manager personally.
"The staff was readying to break their fast and the passenger boarded the same coach. He told us he is fasting, so the staff shared their iftar with him. This is basic humanity," Prakash Kumar Behera, On-board Catering Supervisor, IRCTC, told PTI.
The staff received accolades from netizens, who also pointed out that Akhtar should thank the staff on board and not the railways.
The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), the ticketing, catering, and tourism arm of the railways, has introduced a special menu for the passengers during the Navratri festival. The dishes in the special menu are cooked without onion and garlic, and are prepared with rock salt, a requirement for people observing the Navratri fast.
Muslims around the world are observing the Ramzan fast. Iftar is the nightly meal that marks the breaking of the fast.
Thank you #IndianRailways for the #Iftar
— Shahnawaz Akhtar شاہنواز اختر शाहनवाज़ अख़्तर (@ScribeShah) April 25, 2022
As soon as I boarded Howrah #Shatabdi at Dhanbad,I got my snacks.I requested the pantry man to bring tea little late as I am fasting.He confirmed by asking, aap roza hai? I nodded in yes. Later someone else came with iftar❤@RailMinIndia pic.twitter.com/yvtbQo57Yb
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
