Sufi conclave

It is wonderful to see Prime minister addressing international Sufi conference yesterday. Perhaps the political compulsions of Indian democracy is transforming a political prime minister who does not want to engage with opposition leaders, opposite ideas and conflicting interests with a belief of aggression as the way forward to stifle every question to a statesman who is willing to compromise, negotiate,give up, forego and embrace tolerance. This act of transformation is irreversible and certainly going to cost him dearly among his sophisticated fundamentalist followers and his ideological masters RSS, whose vision could not ever go beyond the binary : surrender without questioning or be the enemy. 

This cadre mind set has failed communist party in India and many other from growing beyond their pocket citadels in a country like ours, where million people have million faiths. Perhaps this is exactly the reason a non cadre party like Congress party, inspite of their repeated disastrous performance and checkered history but bounces back again and again to rule this country. Congress party has members who are extreme than left wing naxalites to the other extreme of right winger RSS or industrialists as their leaders and followers. If at all BJP has to survive beyond droughts, economic slow down and political defeats in Punjab, UP, Kerala and Bengal, the party has to reinvent themselves this art of congress: a collective representation of India : from left to right and poor to rich. Perhaps this is the right time to reinvent that position, since Rahul Gandhi's congress with its attack on RSS is leaving a big gap between Centre to right position. But post UP, Bengal, Kerala and Punjab elections he may be able to bridge that gap. 

Probably Mr. Modi's attempt to reinvent this stature of statesman may be born out of it. But this is an irreversible position. So let us hope he will be able to prevail upon his fundamentalist mentor and its die hard followers. 

But it is found strange that he went on talking about islamic religion in a Sufi conclave! Also his talk went on reiterating religion as paramount in human society. Fact is Sufism came into existence as spiritual subversion of stifling Islamic and Hindu religion as a humane protest. Sufism rejects fundamentalism and the sectarian ethos of religion for the wilderness of raw human existence and its love. They poetically attack the very foundation on these religions and its ethos are built including Islam and Hinduism to reiterate the profound faith of humanity : being humane.