In Modi’s appearance at Jahan-e-Khusrau, a telling message of unity ahead of Bihar polls
New Delhi: When Prime Minister Narendra Modi stepped onto the stage at the Jahan-e-Khusrau Sufi music festival in New Delhi Friday, it was not just about melodies and poetry. His first ever presence at such an event was meant to send a clear political message to all.
This festival, founded by filmmaker Muzaffar Ali and organised by the Rumi Foundation, has been a major platform for Sufi music, poetry and dance since 2001. Coming as it does just a few months after a Hindu lawyer sparked controversy by claiming that the revered Khwaja Gharib Nawaz Dargah Sharif in Ajmer was once a Hindu temple, the Prime Minister’s attendance felt like a deliberate counter-narrative—a gesture of unity aimed at India’s Muslim community, a group the BJP sees as key to cracking the Opposition’s hold on Muslim v...