Uttarakhand Waqf Board Chairman Shadab Shams hoisted the tricolor at the dargah amid slogans like Bharat Mata Ki Jai and Madre Watan Hindustan Zindabad.

On Republic Day, the national flag was hoisted on Friday for the first time after independence at the world-famous Muslim shrine Piran Kaliyar Sharif near Roorkee in the Haridwar district of Uttarakhand. Uttarakhand Waqf Board Chairman Shadab Shams hoisted the tricolor at the dargah amid slogans like Bharat Mata Ki Jai and Madre Watan Hindustan Zindabad.

Shams told reporters that he was told that the national flag has not been hoisted at the Dargah for the last 75 years. I thought why don’t we start this practice and give a positive message to society? I feel very happy to hoist the national flag at Piran Kaliyar on Republic Day. I bow to Mother India and pay tribute to the country’s martyrs. There should not be any place in the country where the tricolor is not hoisted because we believe that the nation comes first. 

Piran Kalyari Sharif is the 13th-century shrine of Sufi saint Alauddin Ali Ahmed Sabir Kalyari of the Chishti sect. He was also known as Sarkar Sabir Pak and Sabir Kaliyari. Located in Kaliyar village near Haridwar on the banks of the Ganga Canal, 7 km from Roorkee, it is one of the most revered pilgrimage sites for Muslims in India. It is revered by the Hindu and Muslim communities alike.