It’s time for iftar. Time for fasting and feasting and political networking under the shiny white shamianas on the sprawling lawns of Lutyens’ Delhi.
The BJP and the Trinamul Congress appear to have taken the lead in this year’s iftar politics. The first political iftar of the season was kicked off by BJP Muslim MP Shahnawaz Hussain and Union minister of state for tourism Sultan Ahmed of the Trinamul Congress.
So what if Mr Hussain is against the UPA and its policies. The star attraction at the iftar gala at Mr Hussain’s Talkatora Road bungalow was none other than Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The entire Hussain clan turned out in strength to welcome Dr Singh. And it was not just the Prime Minister. Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav, Samajwadi boss Mulayam Singh Yadav, Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit and her MP son Sandeep Dikshit, Union ministers Prithviraj Chavan and Praful Patel, “young turks” like Sachin Pilot, Mausaum Nur and Supriya Sule — they were all there to light up Mr Hussain’s feast.
The top BJP leadership, including Mr L.K. Advani and his family, were, of course, all present.
The bitter rivalry and the accusations and counter-accusations seen almost on a daily basis in Parliament and on countless TV talk shows were all forgotten, of course, and bonhomie ruled — particularly in the specially-designated VIP enclosure where the seniormost netas could be seen nodding and smiling, and shaking hands.
Across the sprawling lawns, under the white shamiana, plants were covered with colourful lights, and the menu ranged from vegetarian fare to succulent kebabs, kormas and biryani. Mr Hussain, who represents Bhagalpur in Bihar in the Lok Sabha, had set up an exclusive “Bihar Special” counter, which offered litti and chokha.
The traditional Muslim elite, including clerics, were not forgotten, as Muslims in the BJP have always made a special effort — particularly so since the 2002 Gujarat carnage — to send out the message that this was still a “party with a difference”.
A Congress leader recalled that “there was a time when Indira Gandhi used iftars to interact with Muslim leaders and intellectuals to get an idea of the community’s feelings towards the government or the party.”
At Mr Sultan Ahmed’s first iftar on the Delhi power circuit as a Union minister, the VIP turnout was mostly from within his Trinamul Congress — though the party’s most visible face, railway minister Mamata Banerjee, is still in Kolkata. But his Lodhi Estate bungalow also glittered with light, and flower vases were splattered across tables laid under the white shamiana.
All eyes are now on what the self-styled “messiahs of the Muslims” — SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and LJP president Ram Vilas Paswan — will come up with. Congress leaders have so far not announced any iftar plans. It is also unclear if Mr Amar Singh, fighting to establish his own political space, will host his own iftar. A senior politician remarked: “Iftars these days have become a form of competition between parties and leaders.” But it is evident that Mr Hussain has scored high early in Delhi’s iftar season.