9 hours agoWriters: Nikita Agarwal
Iftar party is once again at the center of politics. On 22 April, CM Nitish Kumar reached Rabri Devi’s Iftar party in Bihar. After this, on 28 April, JDU organized an Iftar party, in which Tejashwi Yadav and Rabri Devi of RJD participated. Now many political meanings are being extracted in the market of speculations.
However, iftar party is not a new thing in politics. After independence, the first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru started this tradition. Since then it has been going on continuously in politics.
Today in Bhaskar Indepth we will know the full story of changing politics of Iftar party…
First those news, which is in discussion iftar party
- Bihar CM Nitish Kumar recently attended Rabri Devi’s Iftar party. This gave rise to speculations about his return to the Grand Alliance. Nitish joined the Iftar party after 5 years amid signs of differences with the BJP. After this, on 28 April, Tejashwi Yadav attended the Dawat-e-Iftar of Nitish’s party JDU.
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar arrived wearing a cap and a gamchha at the Iftar party organized at Rabri Devi’s residence on 22 April. In this picture, he is seen with Lalu Yadav’s family.
- Indian Army organizes an Iftar party in Doda, Jammu and Kashmir. Many pictures of the party were also shared on Twitter by the army. Sudarshan News editor-in-chief Suresh Chavhanke raised questions on the secularism of the army. He said – It is sad to know that this disease has now reached the army as well. After this, the Indian Army deleted the Iftar tweet.
Indian Army organizes Iftar party in Doda district on the occasion of Ramzan. During this, he also gave information about this by tweeting. However, the tweet was deleted after being trolled on the issue.
- In Banaras Hindu University, a new ruckus arose when the Vice-Chancellor’s Iftar party was given in the women’s college. Many students accused the Vice Chancellor of starting a new tradition in the university campus, calling him anti-Hindu and also burnt his effigy.
After independence, Nehru started the tradition of Iftar
The tradition of Iftar party in politics was started by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. However, his motive behind this party was to make Muslims overcome the pain of Partition and instill confidence in them. However, during his tenure Lal Bahadur Shastri called off the Iftar party.
Indira Gandhi was then advised to maintain the base of Muslim support. So he once again started organizing Iftar party. Former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee also continued to organize Iftar party.
Iftar became a symbol of personal and social outreach for Muslim leaders and the community as a whole. In one such iftar party, Sonia Gandhi surrounded by Muslim leaders.
Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna started the tradition in Uttar Pradesh
In 1974, the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna officially started the Iftar party, which later became a tradition. After Bahuguna, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Rajnath Singh, Kalyan Singh, Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav, who were the Chief Ministers of UP, continued this tradition of giving party at the CM House.
While being the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Rajnath Singh also gave an Iftar party at the CM House in the month of Ramzan, maintaining the tradition of Iftar party.
Kalam had put a break in the Iftar party of Rashtrapati Bhavan
There is an old tradition of hosting Iftar party in Rashtrapati Bhavan too. Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam broke this chain during his tenure. He used that money to distribute food, clothes and blankets for the orphanage. Later Pratibha Patil and Pranab Mukherjee started the Iftar party again during their tenure.
During his tenure as President, Pranab Mukherjee also organized an Iftar party at Rashtrapati Bhavan. During this, many veteran leaders like Sonia Gandhi, LK Advani, Hamid Ansari had participated in it.
Modi and Yogi did not have Iftar party
Modi never hosted an Iftar party after becoming the Prime Minister. In 2017 UP CM Yogi Adityanath also decided not to organize Iftar party. In Navratri, he worshiped Kanya on a large scale. At that time, CM Yogi did not even attend the Iftar party of Ram Naik, who was the Governor of UP. Gradually, the Congress has also reduced the holding of Iftar parties.
At present, the responsibility of this has been given to the minority cell. Neither SP’s Akhilesh Yadav nor BSP’s Mayawati hosted an Iftar party in Lucknow this year.
Controversy has also happened in America regarding Iftar party
Former US President Donald Trump did not organize an Iftar party in 2017. After that he was criticized a lot. Due to his many decisions, he was also called anti-Muslim.
Iftar parties in the month of Ramadan are a topic of discussion not only in India but also in America. In 2017, the then US President Donald Trump did not organize an Iftar party, breaking the 20-year tradition. He was widely criticized at the global level for this. Donald Trump also banned citizens of countries like Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from coming to the US. After this he was termed as anti-Muslim.
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