A massive crowd was seen at the funeral of a Muslim leader in Rajasthan yesterday. The leader, named Ghazi Faqir, was 84. His son Saleh Mohammed is currently a cabinet minister in the Congress-led government in Rajasthan.

The crowd and the flouting of Covid-related norms, thus, triggered wide criticism of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.

As per reports, Maulana Ghazi Faqir died of a prolonged illness. He was head of the Hur community, which is said to be about five lakh strong and is present in both India and Pakistan.

The shrine of Syed Mardan Shah, also known as Pir Pagaro, is based in Pakistan’s Sindh province. His death was also mourned in Pakistan, the report said.

He is survived by five sons, including Abdullah Faqir who has served as zilla pramukh of Jaisalmer and Saleh Mohammed who is Rajasthan minority affairs minister and is an MLA from Pokhran.

The family has been associated with the Congress party for long.

He was buried on Tuesday at his ancestral Jhabra village in Jaisalmer. He died at a hospital in Jodhpur. As per reports, Saleh attended the burial despite being Coronavirus-positive.

Ashok Gehlot tweeted his condolences on Faqir’s demise.

Ironically, Gehlot has been tweeting to citizens of Rajasthan to avoid gatherings and follow Covid-related protocols and guidelines.

In a post yesterday, Gehlot said that the virus was spreading fast in Rajasthan and the key reason behind it is the non-compliance of Covid-related norms by citizens.

Social media users criticised Gehlot on the crowd, questioning why his own ministers were flouting the norms.

The state is under lockdown until May 3 citing “rising” cases. The state government, however, is calling it by a different name — Jan Anushashan Pakhwada (fortnight of public discipline).