JOIN USFor large number of Sufis and Dervishes gathered here, it was a day to acknowledge their culture and its much fading existence.
The culture, which started evolving over 900 years ago and moved from Ajmer to our own Gulbarga and other places, is now fighting for its rights.
Syed Kaleemullah Shah, the president of All Karnataka Darwesh and Sufi Category-1 Association, said the community had been seeking recognition for the last 30 years since it had remained a minority. “All we want is a caste certificate,” he said.
At the first-ever State-level conference of the association here on Thursday, the community urged the government to categorise it as a Scheduled Caste (SC). “When we approach the officials, they demand school and college certificates and records. Even our grandparents and parents never went to school, so how will we have the records?” Shah asked.
The Sufi songs are melodious in nature, sung to invoke the God and unite with him. “The effect of singing a Sufi song is equivalent to meditation. Our culture is prevalent from Mysore to Gulbarga, spreading across various other parts of the State,” Shah added.