Chandrababu Naidu Offers Eid-ul-Fitr Prayers

In a move to boost solidarity and communal harmony, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Chandrababu Naidu offered prayers on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr alongside Muslim leaders and members of the Muslim community, at the Municipal Grounds in Vijayawada. In a statement he made to those gathered at the venue, Naidu said that his Telugu Desam Party (TDP) was committed to pursuing the path of communal harmony with the muslims who resided in the state, as well as the larger Muslim community of the world.

Citing examples of a budget of 1,100 crore rupees that had been set aside for minority welfare, from which according to him Andhra Pradesh had the distinction of being the only state in India that offered imams and muezzins an honorarium, he further drove home his overall point to bring to an end the needless hostility that may have one time existed between the various communities and religions that made up the state.

The Chief Minister also said that 25 new schools that were dedicated to and targeted enrolment of minorities as the primary beneficiary of this education scheme would further benefit the Muslim community in Andhra Pradesh. Saying that Muslims observed the month of fasting, Ramadan, for the benefit of humanity as a whole, Naidu aided that he too had prayed to “Almighty Allah” to help the state of Andhra Pradesh achieve happiness and prosperity for all of its people.

On this auspicious day, large gatherings celebrating this occasion were seen in other cities around the state, such as Nellore, Kadapa, Anantapur, Kurnool and Guntur.