The month of Ramzan usually ends with a fair bit of uncertainty over the sighting of the moon, and the correct date for celebrating Eid. This year, however, the suspense in political circles over the holy month of fasting was over the fate of the political iftar “do” that brings together prominent people from the Muslim community, from political parties and from the diplomatic corps in Delhi.
With the Congress party, which could be counted on for a high-powered iftar party every year, cancelling its plans to host one, and the Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM), mentored by the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh’s office bearer, Indiresh Kumar, stepping into the breach, it appeared to signal the shifting political sands in the capital. In a Parliament with a historically low representation from the Muslim community, is it time to bid goodbye to the political iftar?
A long historyThe history of the political iftar shows an interesting shift from the personal to the political and governmental space, and now back to an ebb. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was one of the first to start hosting these get-togethers, more as a personal outreach to his friends and acquaintances rather than a political act. Senior Congressmen say that he would call his friends over to the All India Congress Committee headquarters, then situated at 7 Jantar Mantar Road in New Delhi, at the designated time of breaking the fast.
That tradition was continued more in breach after his death. It was in the late 1970s that the political iftar came into its own. The then Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna, is credited with adding an element of State sponsorship to the event. He would host the meal in Lucknow and invite prominent members of the community who also held some political influence. Seeing this, some Congressmen, who worried that the party had cut adrift from its Muslim voters after the excesses of the Emergency, including the forced sterilisation camps, recommended it as a good way of healing the breach. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi then began hosting the event, and it became part of Delhi’s social calendar, informed by the political class of the day, as is the norm in the city.
Rajiv Gandhi too continued the tradition of attending iftar get-togethers at the homes of senior leaders of the party, like Mohsina Kidwai. Soon, smaller parties that aspired to the community’s vote began hosting their own events. In fact, the Congress’s cancellation of its iftar this year added an air of VIP consequence to the one held by Janata Dal (United) leader Sharad Yadav, where even Congress President Sonia Gandhi registered her presence.
Unlike Atal Bihari VajpayeeWhen the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance came to power at the Centre in 1998, on the back of a massive mobilisation on the Ram Janmabhoomi issue, it was not expected to continue the iftar tradition. But Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, handling a tricky coalition of diverse parties, chose to honour it. The last iftar he hosted, before ill health forced him to retreat from public life, was in 2005, a year after he was voted out of power.
Senior BJP leaders recall that unlike current Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who demurred when presented with a Muslim prayer cap, a special cap used to be made for Mr. Vajpayee, adhering to the shape of his head, and sent in advance to him to wear on the occasion. It was felt that rather than an unseemly struggle by guests to fit a cap on Mr. Vajpayee’s head, captured by news photographers, a custom-made cap was a more dignified option.
During the 10 years of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh regularly held iftars at his official residence, 7 Race Course Road, and the Congress party too hosted its share in different States.
What changed?The 16th, and current, Lok Sabha has seen the lowest number of Muslim MPs elected since 1952. One argument is that this has affected the clout of minority leaders. While Mr. Modi’s decision to discontinue the traditional iftar at the Prime Minister’s residence can be seen to be conforming to his political playbook, the real mystery lies in the reason for the Congress’s cancellation. This year, the party decided to distribute food packets to needy members of the community instead.
Congressmen advance the excuse that it was the MRM’s decision to host an iftar this year that was the game changer. The MRM’s proximity to RSS office-bearers had accorded an air of fetishism to what was earlier seen as a way of reviving and maintaining networks with influential people in the Muslim community. A line had to be drawn, party leaders say, between the MRM’s touch of tokenism in engaging the community, and the Congress’s. With this, could the political iftar be an idea whose sell-by date has passed?
Two years after the mandate of 2014, the shakedown continues in not just how political strategies and tactics are plotted but also in the way politicians negotiate the social calendar.
nistula.hebbar@thehindu.co.in
