India's Ruling BJP Courts Sufi Followers for Muslim Support, But Hurdles Remain

Its outreach efforts have been hobbled by the party's own anti-Muslim rhetoric

- Debarshi Dasgupta

NEW DELHI - A canopy of thousands of fairy lights twinkled above, each one a pretend star in the late afternoon sun, as hundreds of Muslims, seated in neat rows, waited to begin their iftar break.

A Sikh man in a turban was distributing plates of vegetarian biryani. A Jain man had donated papayas and bananas for the iftar. Hindus - those who had come because of hunger or devotion - too, sat cross-legged among Muslims.

This scene on March 6 at the Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah in Delhi, a popular 14th-century shrine dedicated to the Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya, who is buried here, was a reaffirming display of India's longstanding religious pluralism.

Custodians of Sufi shrines such as this one are now being courted by India's governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in a calculated move to woo supporters among the wider Indian Muslim community, most of whom have shunned the right-wing Hindu party known for rhetoric and actions that many perceive as anti-Muslim.

Sufism, a form of Islamic practice that emphasizes spirituality and introspection, came to India through wandering ascetics from Central Asia and became popular over 1,000 years ago as the Sufis spread a message of brotherhood and peace. Sufism developed unique attributes in South Asia, adopting indigenous traditions such as Hindustani classical music to express devotion and endearing itself even more to locals.

Even India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has regularly attended Sufi events, lauding the Sufi community and its beliefs — in contrast to some of his controversial references to Indian Muslims, remarks that critics have described as hate speech.

On Feb 28, he attended a prominent music and dance festival in Delhi, during which he praised the "distinct identity" of India's Sufi tradition.