Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent speech at the Jahan-e-Khusrau Sufi music festival in New Delhi left many of his fans – and detractors – surprised. Extending wishes for the month of Ramzan, he went on to praise the Sufi tradition as an integral part of India’s pluralistic heritage.
Instead of the typical exclusivist and majoritarian template of his political speeches, often based on a reductionist understanding of history, Modi on this occasion chose to dwell on the commonality of beliefs within India’s diversity.
Getting rather poetic, he asserted that the festival, which turns the spotlight on the world of Sufi poet Amir Khusrau, has “a distinct aroma, that of the mitti or soil of Hindustan (it may be noted the nation is not referred to as 'Bharat' as has become common in recent years).” He then named Khusrau among India’s top cultural icons and an essential part of our national heritage — and referred to Sufi poetry, music, and dance as a “shared heritage which we all have lived together, we have all grown up while listening to.”
This is the first time that the PM accepted the invitation from the festival organisers, the Rumi Foundation, which has been organising Jahan-e-Khusrau since 2001 as a platform for underscoring India's cultural plurality.
Does this mark a new turn in the PM’s politics? Should it be read as a fresh attempt to reach out to Muslims, or cast aside as a stray exception to what has so far been his primary political philosophy?
Reducing History to Binaries of Self and Other
As observed from the time he assumed charge as Gujarat Chief Minister, Modi, like numerous others within the Sangh Parivar, is dedicated to underlining the innate 'Hinduness' of the Indian nation – ‘Bharat' – and its people. Both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) are of the view that everyone in this country is essentially a Hindu, although many follow different faiths. Sangh Parivar leaders often assert that while people from other faiths were welcome to continue living in India and practice the religions they follow, they must accept that they are essentially, or at least culturally, Hindu.
Supporters of the Hindutva ideology have been indoctrinated into believing that the majority community was subjugated by the ‘other’ who came in from outside.
They further assert that the alleged mentality of the so-called “outsiders” projecting themselves as ‘superior’ to Hindus – the ‘original’ dwellers of this country – continues to affect Hindus in contemporary times. Proponents of Hindutva contend that such attitudes need to be quelled. Efforts in this direction have led to numerous attacks on individual Muslims on trumped-up accusations and rumours targeting the minority community.
As PM, Modi constantly refers to the medieval era in Indian history as a period of slavery and subjugation by invaders from foreign lands. He has on numerous occasions given a fillip to existing prejudices and stereotypes against Muslims. For instance, during the Lok Sabha polls in 2024, Modi infamously asserted that Muslims “have more children”.
Quite naturally, the speech at the Jahan-e-Khusrau would, therefore, be seen as an exercise in outreach to Muslims, especially followers of Sufi Islam. It also appears to be a nod to other religious minorities and those who believe in the compositeness of India, as against the dominant majoritarian view of the nation which looks at it primarily as the land of the Hindus.
Not Modi's First Sufi Outreach
This is not the first time Modi has praised Sufism. In March 2016, the PM addressed the first World Sufi Forum in New Delhi and spoke glowingly about India’s amalgamated culture and the contribution of Sufism in forging a common national and cultural identity. He evocatively mentioned Sufi saints like Nizamuddin Auliya and Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki and acknowledged that shrines in their memory drew “people from all faiths and all corners of the world.”
The event was organised by All India Ulama and Mashaikh Board, a group of Sufis which criticised the Darul Uloom, Deoband, and proponents of the Wahabi ideology for promoting and encouraging Islamic terrorism in India. The conference, and Modi’s glowing words for Sufism, was an attempt at engaging with the Muslim community through organisations positioned against the dominant groups representing the community.
Such efforts of propping minority pressure groups that support the BJP came to naught with little being heard about their activities in the years that followed. At the ground level, there was no change in the campaign of hatred and prejudice perpetuated by the Hindutva ecosystem against Muslims, adding to their sense of insecurity and alienation.
Modi says Bhakti poets/saints and Sufis spread the same gospel, but supporters of Hindutva do not seem to share his stance because he does not address them with that message. His contention that Hindu Bhakti traditions state that “into the bosom of the one great sea, flow streams that come from hills on every side,” and that “in the wisdom of Bulleh Shah, the Lord is mixed in every heart,” are also not directed at them. No outreach will be genuine unless foot soldiers of the Hindutva brigade are told to hold their horses.
At Jahan-e-Khusrau, Modi mentioned that during his chief ministerial tenure, Sarkhej Roza, a major Sufi centre on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, was renovated.
He added that he attended the music festival held at the shrine complex thereafter. Besides the 2016 speech, Modi also received praise for visiting the Sidi Saiyyed Mosque in Ahmedabad in September 2017 along with his Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe, during the latter’s bilateral visit to India.
While these incidents did happen, it is equally correct to say that in Gujarat, marginalisation of Muslims grew manifold in Modi's tenure as CM, even as their political representation in state politics declined. The fact that localities like Juhapura emerged as the largest ghetto in Asia – solely for Muslims, from the richest to poorest - during Modi’s tenure is telling.
Occasions like the Jahan-e-Khusrau address and the occasional mosque visit can thus be seen as ‘inconsistencies’ in his political behaviour.
In actual political behaviour, he comes across as being no different from others in the Sangh Parivar, looking at contemporary Muslims as either descendants of ‘foreigners’, or converts who were ‘originally’ Hindus and not as a distinct religious minority that contributed greatly to India’s emergence as a global power, contributed to its heritage, and remains an integral part of the country’s diversity.
Performative Politics
It may be argued that Modi addressed one of the capital city’s regular fixtures in its cultural calendar because of those associated with the event. The chairman of the Rumi Foundation is Karan Singh. Besides being a scion of the former royal family of Kashmir and union minister on several occasions in governments headed by the Congress, Singh has a long association with organisations promoting Hindu political identity. Filmmaker Muzaffar Ali, the event’s executive director, keeps mainly to his primary interests — promoting cultural traditions which have a composite following.
As always with the saffron party, optics belie the grim irony.
The Jahan-e-Khusrau festival was held at Sunder Nursery, part of the spruced-up area adjacent to Humayun’s Tomb and Gurdwara Damdama Sahib. Though just a few kilometres away across the Mathura Road in Delhi, the Nizamuddin basti – where Amir Khusrau’s remnants perish in ignominy – is a world apart.
Unlike the posh serenity of the festival venue, Nizamuddin basti hustles and bustles with the sounds of the working class from dawn to dusk. The venerated Nizamuddin Dargah and Amir Khusrau’s tomb are located deep inside the settlement, accessible only through serpentine lanes and by-lanes. The basti is also home to an estimated 25,000-30,000 inhabitants and shelters innumerable visitors and homeless sanctuary seekers.
It was here that a religious congregation organised by the Tablighi Jamaat during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 was held. The incident was used to denigrate Muslims for ‘spreading corona’ and whip up Islamophobia across India.
The speeches at Jahan-e-Khusrau or other such occasions remain performative. They serve to provide a veneer of inclusiveness for those willing to be lulled into believing that ‘everything is okay’ and that the government is accommodative as well as non-discriminatory. If Modi or other Sangh Parivar leaders really want to reach out to religious minorities – especially Muslims – it needs to extend a hand of comfort to the people typified as residents or visitors of the so-called ‘ghettos’. Islam and Muslims in India are not homogenous. Instead, they are a diverse lot like other communities, including Hindus, and not just on economic lines.
Merely eulogising the universal humanity of India and superficially acknowledging the contribution of different communities, faiths, and traditions will not erase societal divisions, consciously widened by the BJP and its affiliates over the past several decades to further its political belief and increase its electoral stranglehold.
In fact, even at the Jahan-e-Khusrau address, Modi slipped in a bit of doublespeak when he said that Khusrau’s writings played a significant role in making Indians “familiar with our past today” despite “so much being destroyed during the long period of slavery.”
This is typical of the Hindu majoritarian view of Indian history that the Hindutva brigade promotes. It is at odds with the theme of the composite greatness of Sufi and Bhakti traditions that Modi eloquently praised. The words might have been pleasing to the ear, but that’s what good orators (and politicians) do best: they say what the audience wants to hear.
(The writer is a journalist based in Delhi-NCR and author of books including 'The Demolition, The Verdict and The Temple: The Definitive Book on the Ram Mandir Project' and 'Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times'. His X handle is @NilanjanUdwin. This is an opinion piece. All views expressed are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)