A big banner greets commuters on the recent occasion of Eid (the Islamic festival which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan (spelled "Ramzan" here). If you click on the photo, you can see the Chief Minister of the state donning an Islamic cap. The CM himself is a Christian. Although India is predominantly Hindu, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh is a Sikh, the chairperson of the ruling coalition, Sonia Gandhi (no relation to Mahatma Gandhi) is a Catholic, and the ex-president who just demitted office very recently, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam is a Muslim. The politicians world over seem to please their constituents by donning their garb and participating in their festivals and making sure that others see it. All through the month of Ramzan, there are "Iftar parties" in the evening. "Iftar" is when the devout Muslims break their fast in the evening. Newspaper photos show local, state and national level politicians holding their own "Iftar parties". Even Iftar has been politicized. The sorry state is reflected in a recent cartoon which showed a bureaucrat asking a politician -"Shall we also invite some Muslims to the Iftar party, Sir?"
"It's clearly more important to treat one's fellow man well than to be always praying and fasting and touching one's head to a prayer mat." -Naguib Mahfouz, Egyptian author and the 1988 Nobel laureate for literature
2 comments:
Everything is political these days, isn't it?
as a political student...
I love politics, but I agree everything is being politicised these days and it's a little ridiculous...
In Canada they wanted to remove the christmas tree inside city hall last year cause it was a religious symbol.
Now THAT is pretty much the dumbest thing ever. I'm not christian, but i do celebrate christmas cause i just like putting a tree in my house...
People just need to chill and let people do whatever they want instead of trying to always be politicaly correct.
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