PM Modi to attend Jahan-e-Khusrau festival 

Prime Minister Modi to inaugurate Jahan-e-Khusrau festival in Delhi, promoting peace through Sufi music amid cultural controversies.

After the pandemic, Sufi strains will waft in Delhi’s air again as Prime Minister Narendra Modi opens the 25th edition of the Jahan-e-Khusrau festival on Friday (February 28, 2025) at the Sunder Nursery. Muzaffar Ali, the festival’s founder and curator, said this would be the first time the head of the government would pay homage to the festival.

In a text message, Mr. Modi remarked that the participation of global artists, musicians, and dancers at the festival strongly resonates with the inclusive and all-encompassing worldview of our nation. May the melodious strains of soulful music build bridges of peace, harmony, and friendship between people, societies, and nations.”

Coming at a time when films like The Kashmir Files have questioned the intent of Muslim Sufi saints and a right-wing group has laid claim over Khwaja Moinuddin Chisthi’s dargah in Ajmer, the PM’s visit holds meaning. Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti was the spiritual master of Nizamuddin Auliya, who took mystic musician Amir Khusrau under his wing.

“The PM’s visit will send a strong message,” said Mr Ali. Refraining from spelling out the larger meaning, the eminent filmmaker said, “I don’t want to read his mind. I believe the PM is following his heart. We reached out to him for his blessings and got a message from the PMO that he would like to attend.” Mr Ali, who engaged with Atal Bihari Vajpayee when he was at the helm, said the former PM nudged him to make a film on Rumi.

Describing the festival as the celebration of the syncretic traditions of Indian culture, Mr. Ali said, “It is not just Amir Khusrau; we are celebrating Khusrau-like minds. Khusrau is an icon of blending and assimilation of cultural influences of all segments of society to create a symbol of love and harmony.”

“People can come out with their discoveries, but to my mind, Amir Khusrau was a true lover of India. He saw the land of his birth beyond any land that surrounded it or from where people came to inhabit it,” he added.

Among the highlights of the three-day festival is ‘Yaad-e-Kanhaiya,’ where noted thumri exponent Malini Awasthi will collaborate with Iranian musicians. Mr. Ali, who has worked extensively on the connections between Sufism and Sikhism and Sufi thought in Awadh’s Krishna bhakti, said that Sufis see Lord Krishna as an eternal visible beloved, and much of their poetry in the colloquial idiom uses him as an icon of love. He said mystics used the unity of the formless creator as propounded in Advaita Vedanta to connect with the faith of the Indian populace.