In an address laced with couplets from Amir Khusrau, Mirza Ghalib and Rumi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday said India was a land where every culture had flourished and there was something special in the soil. Speaking at the 25th edition of the Jahan-e-Khusrau festival on a rainy evening at Sunder Nursery here, the Prime Minister said: “Our Hindustan is that garden of heaven where every colour of culture has flourished. There is something special in the nature of the soil here. Perhaps that is why when the Sufi tradition came to Hindustan, it also felt as if it had connected with its own land.” He said the Sufi tradition had created a distinct identity in India and that Sufi saints read the Quran and listened to the voices of the Vedas as well. “When Sufi and classical music traditions merged, they gave birth to new expressions of love and devotion, evident in the qawwalis of Hazrat Khusrau, the verses of Baba Farid, the poetry of Bulleh Shah, Mir, Kabir, Rahim, and Raskhan. These saints and mystics gave a new dimension to devotion,” he said. “Ras Khan, a Muslim, was a devoted follower of Lord Krishna, reflecting the universal nature of love and devotion, as expressed in his poetry,” Modi said. Speaking of Khusrau, he said had sung songs in praise of India and described the country as greater than all the big countries of the time. Khusrau had described Sanskrit as the “best language” in the world, the PM said. Quoting Ghalib, he said: “‘Janoona Garbe, Nafse-Khud, Tamam Ast. Ze-Kashi, Pa-Be Kashan, Neem Gaam Ast’. That is, when we wake up, we see the distance between Kashi and Kashan ( a city in Iran) is only half a step. Indeed, for today's world, where war is causing such a great loss to humanity, this message can be very useful.” The PM said the sufi tradition had brought the world closer. He recalled his visit to the Afghanistan Parliament in 2015, where he cited Rumi. “Eight centuries ago, Rumi was born in the Balkh province of Afghanistan. I would definitely like to repeat a Hindi translation of Rumi's writings here because these words are equally relevant today. Rumi had said, ‘raise words, not voice, because flowers are born in the rain, not in the storm’. I remember one more thing of his, if I say it in local words, then it means, I am neither from the east nor from the west, neither I have come from the sea nor I have come from the land, there is no place for me, there is none, I do not belong to any place, that is, I am everywhere. This thought, this philosophy is not different from our feeling of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’. When I represent India in different countries of the world, these thoughts give me strength,” the PM said. In his address, the PM thanked the organiser, Rumi Foundation’s chairman Dr Karan Singh and executive director Muzaffar Ali, referring to Ali as his “friend”. The festival, which will go on till Sunday, began with a performance by Sanjukta Sinha Dance Company, from Ahmedabad, and Mooralala Marwarda, from Kutch. As their performance ended, the PM walked in and Nazeer and Naseer Ahmed Warsi, qawwals from Hyderabad, joined by folk singer Malini Awasthi, started theirs. Amid rain and disturbance in the sound, the PM watched them perform ‘nazr e Krishna’. He interacted with the musicians on stage before giving his address.
