Travel to Mecca for Haj is life time dream for our Muslim brethren: President Mukherjee

Lauding the Jharkhand Government for coming up with the project of establishing a "Haj House" to facilitate Haj pilgrimage, President Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday said a travel to Mecca for Haj is a life time dream for the Muslim brethren.

President Mukherjee, who laid the foundation stone of Rabindra Bhawan and Haj House here today, expressed optimism that this will provide much needed relief to the pilgrims from the state and the area.

The President said that he was happy to be present in Ranchi on the occasion of laying of foundation stone for the Rabindra Bhavan and Haj House.

"It is indeed a matter of pleasure that Gurudev and his family who left a long lasting impression in the state will be commemorated through the construction of Rabindra Bhavan," he added.

President Mukherjee said that his association with Jharkhand, as indeed the entire eastern region goes back many a decades with the neighbouring West Bengal being his home state.

"Indeed Bihar, undivided Bengal, Jharkhand, Orissa and Assam were part of the same Bengal Presidency for a long period in the earlier part of the last century. The area has a shared past and heritage and its shaping in the post Independence era has also been similar," he said.