THE UNTOLD STORY BEHIND "POLITICAL IFTAR PARTIES"- In the next few days Ramadhan will be here and there will be a mad rush to organize Iftar Parties in New Delhi. Most likely Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also organize one along with Soniya Gandhi and the rest.
It all started in early 1970s by Mr. Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna, who was a junior minister at that time in New Delhi, and where did he conceived the idea? By no other than by my grandfather, Mr Istafa Husain.
Both of these gentlemen were neighbors in Lucknow in mid 1950s, at a locality which was then known as "Bandariyabagh". They both were Parliamentary Secretaries in the regime of Chief Minister Sampoornanand. Mr Bahuguna invited my grandfather for Iftar one day, which at that time was unheard of. A Hindu inviting a Muslim for Iftar, and next year he invited many more Muslim friends. It was kept very informal.
I don't know what happened in the intervening years, but in early sixties he called my grandfather, who was a MLC that time, and told him that now he is doing a formal Iftar Party. That was the first formal Iftar Party by a Minister in New Delhi.
It all started in early 1970s by Mr. Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna, who was a junior minister at that time in New Delhi, and where did he conceived the idea? By no other than by my grandfather, Mr Istafa Husain.
Both of these gentlemen were neighbors in Lucknow in mid 1950s, at a locality which was then known as "Bandariyabagh". They both were Parliamentary Secretaries in the regime of Chief Minister Sampoornanand. Mr Bahuguna invited my grandfather for Iftar one day, which at that time was unheard of. A Hindu inviting a Muslim for Iftar, and next year he invited many more Muslim friends. It was kept very informal.
I don't know what happened in the intervening years, but in early sixties he called my grandfather, who was a MLC that time, and told him that now he is doing a formal Iftar Party. That was the first formal Iftar Party by a Minister in New Delhi.