Hyderabad: Chilkur Balaji Temple preist Dr Rangarajan has questioned Why no support for Sufi Basant Panchami?

Chilkur: Balaji Temple preist Dr Rangarajan has questioned why the Central government under Modiji is not interested in supporting the great initiative of reviving Basant Panchami, a Sufi festival to celebrate communal harmony? The festival of Basant Panchami—fifth day of the spring—is basically a Hindu tradition. But it is celebrated not by Hindus alone but also by the members of other faith traditions including the Sikh and Sufi followers. The arrival of spring alters the property of earth from the state of infertility to that of fertility. Thus, it signifies an end to gloom ushering mankind into an awakening of new joy. Metaphorically, the festival symbolizes an end to ignorance and awakening into a state of spiritual enlightenment, writes sivanaspirit.com.

Rangarajan said that if the facts are true, the initiative by a Dargah to revive this tradition a few years back suffered a setback due to lack of support and patronage. There was no Basant festival this year which was revived a few years back. The Sufi head of the Dargah was measured in his words of regret and agony that his efforts were facing hurdles both at government level and patronage level. Celebrating Basant may have been a norm at various Sufi dargahs in north India, but it is rarely celebrated down in the Vindhyas.

Muzaffar Ali Soofi Chisti, the custodian of Hazrat Shaikh Ji Hali dargah, revived the tradition in south India a few years ago. Incidentally, Basant was celebrated as an official festival in Hyderabad of yore – both during the Qutub Shahi and the Asaf Jahi regimes. "As you are aware, we from Chilkur have been reminding people that Tana shah was the most revered Muslim ruler of our region. He was a true secularist. Aurangazeb razed the Golconda rule just for this affection of Tana Shah towards Hindu subjects.

To quell dissent among the Mughal clergy and nobles against his Deccan campaign, Aurangzeb launched a propaganda campaign against Tana Shah. It is important to rewrite history and remove the Mughal distortion to present Tani Shah as a better role model for current and future generations in our history text books. The book 'History of Golconda' records how Golconda suffered for the policy of religious tolerance of his ruler Tani Shah due to the aggression and ambition of Aurangzeb', he said.

Rangarajan said that at least now the State and the Union governments should revive this unique tradition of Telangana to continue the legacy of Tana Shah. "We need to celebrate such people who followed principles of dharma, he added."