India’s ‘political iftars’ once stopped riots. Are they corrupt stunts now?
Al JazeeraPoliticians and parties have used iftars to forge peace during strife but also to woo elite Muslims for the community’s votes. On the one hand, analysts said, political iftars help underscore India’s secular identity – non-Muslim political leaders hosting Muslims for a meal during the holy month. They were just the showpieces.” When Indira Gandhi used iftars for revival — but failed By the mid-1970s, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s relations with Bahuguna, her party leader in charge of the politically critical state of Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous, often dominated headlines. Unlike when friends host an iftar, he said, “a politician’s invite is to capitalise on the secular element of it, a very rigid and very problematic form of secularism.” ‘Never to serve common Muslims’ The emergence and evolution of political iftars are a postcolonial phenomenon, Ahmed said. Some political leaders still attend iftar parties – like Delhi’s newly elected chief minister, the BJP’s Rekha Gupta, this month – but such instances are rare.
History of this topic
Hindus organised Iftar party in Afzalgunj
Deccan Chronicle
Iftar politics hurt JD (U) in Bihar; Lalu, Chirag try to reach out to minorities
Hindustan Times
‘Muslims, who fought British rulers, being targeted in India now’
The Hindu
When an iftar party at Banaras Hindu University created a storm
Firstpost
Parties, polls & the identity debate
Deccan Chronicle
Lively discussion at The Hindu Lit for Life festival
The Hindu
Despite fatwa political Iftar parties flourish
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