Sultana Begum in Patna. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, March 30: She lives off a small scrap shop in Howrah’s Shibpur with her family. Often, they go without even two square meals a day. The only other income she has is the Rs 400 she gets as pension every month.

But she has blue blood running in her veins, no mixes anywhere. Her name is Sultana Begum and she is the great granddaughter-in-law of the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar.

Neither the Bengal government nor the Centre has — in her own words — bothered to help her or shown any respect to her bloodline. To the extent that she was today stunned by the kindness that a Bihar temple trust showed her.

The Mahavir Mandir Trust offered the widow of Mirza Mohammad Bedar Bakht — a great grandson of Bahadur Shah — a job for one of her family members and funds to finance her grandson’s studies.

“I feel very honoured at the temple’s decision. I will never forget it,” Sultana said, touched that religion had not come in the way. “This is how India is… our country has a truly secular ethos.”

She said that more than the money, it was the humanness of the gesture that had moved her. “There is no difference between Allah and Ishwar. At least, Mahavir Mandir and Kunalji (trust secretary) have proved it by honouring me on the temple premises,” she said.

On a goodwill mission to Patna with six family members, Sultana, however, did not mince words about the way she had been treated by the government.

“The pension is too small to ensure us food even for three-four days a week. But nobody cares though our family has been a part of Indian history and culture.

“We have been struggling for survival. There was virtually no help from the Bengal government or the Centre.”

Sultana, in her fifties, said it did not require telling that no family could survive even in a Howrah slum on the paltry pension she has been stuck with since 1980.

“There was no revision of my pension despite prices shooting up. You can guess how hard it is for us…. But the fire to maintain our legacy keeps us alive.”

Sultana will return to Howrah tomorrow to discuss the job offer with daughter Tarannum, 28, before she leaves for Uttar Pradesh on the next leg of her mission.

Mahavir Mandir Trust secretary Kishore Kunal said the offers to Sultana had been made “as part of our respect to the great Bahadur Shah Zafar” as the country celebrates 150 years of the first war of Independence.

He said the trust would also arrange for free medical treatment for Sultana and her family.