The Hindu : `A meaningful pseudo-secular affair'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Nov 23, 2002

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National

`A meaningful pseudo-secular affair'

By Our Special Correspondent

The Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, at the Iftar party hosted by the Minister for Civil Aviation, Syed Shahnawaz Hussain (second from left), in New Delhi on Friday. The Samajwadi Party leader, Amar Singh (second from right), is also seen. — Photo: S. Arneja .

New Delhi Nov. 22. It looked as if the entire BJP top brass was out to thumb its nose at the Shiv Sena boss, Bal Thackeray. Just a day after he had sarcastically ticked off the BJP leaders for their tendency to imitate "pseudo-secular'' rituals like attending Iftar parties, the Prime Minister and his deputy turned up at an Iftar.

And, as if to underline his defiance, Mr. Vajpayee even donned an Aligarhi cap at his Cabinet colleague, Syed Shahnawaz Khan's `Iftari'.

As the only Cabinet Minister from the Muslim community, the honour of hosting an Iftari has in the last two years come to the Minister for Civil Aviation. In fact, during the debate on Gujarat in the Lok Sabha on Monday, the Syed had taunted the Congress benches over Ms. Sonia Gandhi's decision to cancel her Iftar party this year whereas he was going ahead with his party today. The BJP, as he put it, was more solicitous of the Muslims than was the Congress.

Besides the Prime Minister, the BJP was represented by L.K. Advani, the party president, Venkaiah Naidu, and the Information Minister, Sushma Swaraj. The Congress phalanx consisted of Narain Dutt Tiwari, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Najma Heptullah and Sunil Dutt. Of course, also very much present was Laloo Prasad Yadav. Former Prime Ministers Chandra Shekhar and I.K. Gujral, too, put in an appearance. The place, in and outside, was in fact crawling with SPG and policemen of all varieties.

Surprisingly enough and, impressively enough, Syed Shahnawaz Khan also ensured the presence of a sprinkling of Bollywood stars — Anil Kapoor, Raveena Tandon, Sanjay Khan and Reena Roy could be spotted. The unglamorous end of the spectrum was represented by a few Muslim clerics, who though looked equally resplendent in their religious attire.

The sober middle was provided by the diplomatic corps representatives who looked sufficiently awed by the presence of the heavyweight Indian political contingent.

Yes, there were a few officers, serving and retired. The Attorney-General, Soli Sorabjee, put in an appearance as did the former CBI Director, Joginder Singh. There were a few media celebrities too.

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