Delhi’s Phool Walon Ki Sair: A people’s festival dimmed by bureaucracy

It has transformed from a vibrant grassroots celebration into a state-managed affair. Local artisans, flower sellers are mere bystanders now.

This year’s Phool Walon Ki Sair featured cultural performances from Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.  | Photo Credit: Vedaant Lakhera

“Phool Walon Ki Sair is not just a festival; it is a testament to Delhi’s Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb,” said Delhi’s Chief Minister Atishi on October 26 speaking at the closing night of the festival at Lodhi-era Jahaz Mahal, Mehrauli. Held on the cusp of winter each year, the Phool Walon Ki Sair is a week-long festival held in this part of South Delhi, featuring ceremonial offerings of pankhas (floral fans) and floral tributes to both the dargah of the 13th-century Sufi saint Qutubuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki and the ancient Yogmaya temple. The dargah and the temple are venerated by both Hindus and Muslims during the festival.

The origin of the festival dates back to the early 19th century when Mughal queen Mumtaz Mahal vowed to walk barefoot and offer a chadar (sacred cloth) at the shrine of Qutubuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki and a canopy at the Yogmaya Mandir if her son, sent to exile by the Britsh, ever returned. In 1812, when he did, the queen stayed true to her word, walking through Delhi as flower sellers blanketed her path with petals to ease her journey, thus giving birth to Phool Walon Ki Sair, or ‘The Walk of the Flower Sellers’.

But although the festival has sustained over time, many now worry that it has lost its original charm.

The festival was banned by the British during the Quit India Movement in 1942 as part of their suppression of the movement. It was revived in 1962 by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, with the help of Padma Shri Yogeshwar Dayal, an advocate and former Justice of the Supreme Court, both of whom were eager to reclaim Delhi’s syncretic culture. Usha Kumar, Dayal’s daughter and the general secretary of Anjuman Sair-e-Gul Faroshan, the festival’s sole organising body, told Frontline: “Nobody knew how the festival was celebrated. My father, with the help of the then-mayor, located families who had participated in this festival for generations. In 1962, the festival was celebrated once again, with Nehru himself attending the event.”

In earlier years, the festival saw the attendance by several prime ministers, but now due to security concerns, the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi presides over the celebrations. “During my childhood, I witnessed Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, and Rajiv Gandhi attend the festival. But after Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, the security got so tight and there were so many protocols to be followed, that prime ministers stopped attending the event altogether,” Kumar recalled.

Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, admires a pankha made of flowers at the Phool Walon ki Sair in New Delhi on October 7, 1986. | Photo Credit: THE HINDU ARCHIVES

Khadim Hussain, a Mehrauli resident who has lived near the Dargah for the last 40 years, believes this festival symbolises India’s culture of harmony. “This is a very old ceremony, a testament that we should live together. But slowly, the festival has dimmed out. Earlier, it felt like the sun had come out at night with all of Mehrauli sparkling. Now, only the main places are cleaned and decorated.” Hussain believes that the festival changes with every new government. “This is a festival of Hindu-Muslim unity. It’s not just me, but everybody will tell you the same thing: respect everyone, and live in harmony in society. People get tied up with stereotypes, but those who are good and educated never get affected.” He added that this festival needs to be promoted further due to the values it holds at its core. “Future generations need to understand the purpose of Phool Walon Ki Sair: its message of unity.”

The Yogmaya temple, dedicated to goddess Yogmaya, believed to be a sister of Krishna, carries a rich historical legacy. Destroyed during the Delhi Sultanate, the temple’s present structure was restored in the early 19th century. For the past 400 years, around 40 to 50 families living in the vicinity of the temple have been responsible for its upkeep. Shashi Kumar Vats, whose family has managed the temple for nearly seven generations, recalled how in previous years, a Hindu minister would visit the dargah, and a Muslim minister would inaugurate the sair at the temple, symbolising the festival’s message of coexistence. “Now, it’s just the Lieutenant Governor who attends. It has become mainly a government affair. There is high security and nobody else participates.”

The floral pankhas offered to the dargah of Qutbuddin Kaki and the Yogmaya temple are adorned with flowers and symbols from both religions. | Photo Credit: Vedaant Lakhera

Although it originated in Delhi, the festival has gradually spread to other States. According to Kumar, it was Indira Gandhi’s vision to encourage the participation of other States in these festivals. “It happened in front of me. We were giving our pankha to her and that is when she said: ‘Why don’t we include other States in this?’ She wrote to all the States to send pankhas and a cultural dance troupe.” However, three decades later, State participation has waned, with only Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh actively taking part in the festival.

What was once a vibrant festival is now a shadow of its former self. Today, Phool Walon Ki Sair begins ceremonally with the presentation of the ceremonial pankhas to the Lieutenant Governor and the Chief Minister of Delhi. Historian Sohail Hashmi notes a marked shift in public participation over the years. “I believe this is happening because it has been bureaucratised. A popular people’s festival is being taken over by the state and the people are left as bystanders. There should be systematic efforts to ensure the people take over and run the festival.” He added, “This festival was originally run by people such as flower sellers and local artisans. We should encourage their leadership again. The state’s support is helpful, but to remain inclusive, festivals like these should ultimately be managed by the community.”

Hashmi’s concern reflects the sentiment of many old-timers who recall the festival as a symbol of Delhi’s communal harmony. However, with the increasing involvement of the state, local artisans and vendors who once contributed to the festival’s unique charm are now sidelined. “In 2017, we had no finances. We somehow pooled in our money and I told the Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal that we are ending this festival because we cannot afford it anymore,” said Kumar. “This is when the state came in and the downfall of the celebration started. We used to have people who have been working with us for years and they know how to organise the festival. The authorities follow a tender system and because of that every year there is a new decorator or flower supplier. This year the workers, who were supposed to decorate the Jahaz Mahal knew nothing of decoration. Every year, it is going from bad to worse.”

The weeklong Phool Walon Ki Sair festival concluded with a qawwali night at the Jahaz Mahal on October 26. | Photo Credit: Vitasta Kaul

The festival was only interrupted once, in 1971, when Delhi faced a blackout amid the Indo-Pakistan war. In the past years, Delhi has seen many cases of communal unrest and efforts to erode its social fabric, be it the riots of 1984 or the more recent violence in 2020. Yet these events have never fractured the unity that this festival celebrates and renews. 

What began as a grassroots celebration has grown into a symbol of communal harmony, but it now stands at a crossroads. As older residents like Hussain and Vats observe, retaining Phool Walon Ki Sair’s spirit of unity amid modernisation remains both a challenge and an opportunity for Delhi, especially in times when the social fabric of the country is changing. The festival’s uniqueness lies in blending the cultural practices of both Hindu and Muslim communities in a manner that is increasingly rare in contemporary celebrations.

Hashmi reiterates, “Most people’s festivals, regardless of which country they take place in, have grown out of some strange rituals. The festival of Bacchus in ancient Greece or the carnivals in many Latin American countries might have started for whatever purpose, but now, in terms of their participation, they are inclusive festivals. Even Baisakhi and the Basant Mela at Nizamuddin’s shrine, are all-inclusive celebrations, cutting across religious communities. Any efforts like these that promote inclusion need to be encouraged, and this is why I am saying, let the people run it.”