Lucknow, Nov 7 (IANS): The Uttar Pradesh Congress will observe the death anniversary of the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar on Tuesday.

This initiative is apparently another attempt to reach out to the minority community and comes at a time when there are concerted efforts to generate public opinion on Mughal symbols.

Members of the party will offer floral tributes to the emperor in all 75 districts of the state.

Born in 1775, Zafar died on November 7, 1862 at the age of 87 years.

“Bahadur Shah Zafar who was not just the last Mughal emperor of India but was also the face of rebellion against divisive East India Company. It was for him that nobles and people from all walks of life in North India took on the British. However, the BJP is constantly undermining the contribution of the Mughals which we cannot allow. Therefore, the programme has been organised,” said Shahnawaz Alam, president, Uttar Pradesh Congress Minority cell.

The cell has also decided to celebrate the birth anniversaries of India’s first Education Minister Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (November 11), and late Prime Ministers Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (November 14) and Indira Gandhi (November 19).

Alam further said the larger idea behind remembering Bahadur Shah Zafar was to remind people that India’s cultural, social and political values were a shared legacy that has existed for centuries.

“We are in a time where politics of history is being played. The BJP is manipulating and twisting history books to pedal their agenda. In the process, the morale of the minority community is severed which the Congress cannot allow,” he said.

“A number of new minority outreach programmes are being launched to tell people that the 2024 elections are extremely crucial for the future of Indian democracy.”