If you're a politician in Delhi this month, even a small-time hanger-on cum flunkey who lives on the periphery of power, you can happily halve your grocery bill. Those in the loop will guess instantly that the reference is to the unending succession of iftaar parties-averaging probably 1.2 a day-that add the wonderful aroma of kebabs to Lutyens' bungalows in this holy month of Ramzan.

EVERYBODY'S INVITED: Sonia's arrival at Mulayam's iftaar (top) caused a political buzz; Vajpayee was the star at Hussain's

On Wednesday, December 5, for instance, both Samajwadi Party President Mulayam Singh Yadav and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah hosted iftaars. A largely common guest list meant that, among others, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Congress President Sonia Gandhi-not to speak of P.V. Narasimha Rao, Manmohan Singh and a whole gaggle of journalists-had to franticallydrive from one iftaar to the other.

Farooq himself could make it to Mulayam's house at only about 9.00 p.m.-hours after the 5.24 p.m. designated for breaking the fast-and the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister had to be woken up to receive his rather late guest.

While Vice-President Krishan Kant got into the act with his own iftaar party the next day, and the Vajpayee and Sonia dos are in the offing, Mulayam's iftaar easily captured the most media attention. For one it came two months before the Uttar Pradesh elections and in the midst of constant speculation on a possible Samajwadi-Congress alliance. It also reflected-like every year-the prodigious organising skills and social network of Amar Singh, Mulayam's man Friday and party general secretary. From the Congress' Sheila Dikshit to communist H.S. Surjeet to Home Minister L.K. Advani-he has finally given in and begun to attend political iftaars from this season-the entire gamut of political India was represented.

Business India was there in strength too, Anil and Tina Ambani, Lalit Suri, Nikhil and Sweta Nanda, you name it. At the 2000 iftaar-where Amar Singh had read a little speech on Palestine for the benefit of invited Arab and Pakistani diplomats-Amitabh Bachchan competed with the biryani for attraction. This year's fare, bewilderingly vegetarian-dominated, was matched by the tepidity of Abhishek Bachchan.

The Nation A PRESENT TENSE ... "If a Muslim invites Hindus for iftaar it's a courtesy, but when a Hindu invites other Hindus it's politics." Shahnawaz Hussain, Civil Aviation Minister

If you discount the party thrown by criminal lawyer R.K. Anand, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-turned-Congress MP, the first major political iftaar of the year was on November 29, at Civil Aviation Minister Shahnawaz Hussain's. Usual suspects-Vajpayee, Chandra Shekhar, V.P. Singh, I.K. Gujral-and unusual ones-Khushabhau Thakre-competed with the glamour of Nafisa Ali, Shatrughan Sinha and Shekhar Suman. While Hussain had invited 350 people, 3,000 turned up. Since only an estimated 1,000 offered namaaz, presumably most of the gatecrashers were there for the food.

To the devout Muslim, iftaar is an intensely sacred and private affair, implying the ritualistic breaking of the daylong fast during Ramzan. Neither is it the custom to gorge on biryani or korma at an iftaar. A frugal meal of dates is usually deemed enough. Political iftaars, by their very definition, are different. They are directed at sending signals to the media about how much you matter or who your friends are in the hierarchy called Delhi. At Mulayam's iftaar, there was even a VIP enclosure, an awkwardness at what is meant to be an egalitarian ceremony.

When the late Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna "invented"-if that be the word-the political iftaar two decades ago, his intention was to acquaint apparently influential Delhi-based Muslim clerics with politicians. Today, the "iftaar culture" has spread to even Marxist West Bengal. As every politician knows, iftaar's efficacy as a vote getter is entirely mythical. After all, if wooing constituents were the idea, Hussain would have hosted a grand iftaar in Bihar, not wasted money on well-heeled non-voters. Nevertheless, as long as the kebabs are succulent and the daawats are coming in, nobody's complaining. A roza is a roza by any other name.