Will five Muslim ‘elites’ meet with RSS supremo Mohan Bhagwat without raising important issues facing the Muslim community, and Bhagwat’s symbolic visit as a return gesture to a Masjid and a Madrasa in the national capital help in reconciliation between Hindus and Muslims at a time when the gulf between the two largest communities has widened tremendously? However, many Muslims suggest that Bhagwat’s Muslim outreach programme be welcomed even if it is tokenism and symbolic. But the BIG question is: Can there be lasting peace without JUSTICE? Mr Bhagwat must intervene and use his influence over the government to halt violence against Muslims by radical Hindu outfits and the BJP state governments committing excesses by targeting Muslim youths, demolishing their religious places and trying to capture more mosques by misuse of state machinery if the RSS supremo is really sincere about reconciliation and peace and harmony between the two communities.
–Syed Khalique Ahmed
NEW DELHI—What was the agenda of the five ‘elite’ Muslims who visited RSS supremo Mohan Bhagwat a few days ago? And what was the purpose of Bhagwat returning the gesture in quick succession by visiting a mosque and a ‘madrasa’ in the national capital?
The five Muslims are former Chief Election Commissioner SY Qureshi, former Delhi L-G Najeeb Jung, Lt-Gen (retd) Zamiruddin Shah, journalist-turned-politician Shahid Siddiqui and businessman Saeed Shervani.
Did ‘elite’ Muslims present their agenda, if any, before Bhagwat? Did they speak to him about Muslims being terrorized all over the country by workers belonging to various radical Hindu outfits allegedly linked with the Sangh Parivar? Did they talk to him about hate propaganda launched against Muslims by leaders belonging to the Sangh Parivar? Did they speak to him about the demolition of ‘madrasas’ and mosques in BJP-ruled states? Did they raise the arrest of Muslim youths linked with the CAA-NRC protest under the dreaded UAPA in the 2020 Delhi riots case? Did these ‘elites’ talk to him about the Muslim demand to withdraw the CAA that will reduce millions of Indian Muslims as aliens in their own country if the CAA is linked with the NRC and finally implemented? And if yes, what was the response of the RSS chief? And if they did not raise these issues, then why? These are the most critical issues for the Indian Muslim community today.
These questions are agitating the minds of Muslim academicians, intellectuals, religious groups, social workers, human rights defenders, and even the Muslim political class. This has become a topic of discussion in every Muslim home across the country because the Muslims in India never faced a crisis of the magnitude they are facing now after the BJP acquired power at the Centre in 2014. BJP is said to be a political arm of the RSS, making the RSS supremo the most powerful person in the country. Reports say that RSS leadership influences every decision taken by the government, particularly about Muslims.
Maulana Umair Ilyasi, Imam of the Kasturba Gandhi Road mosque in Lutyen’s Delhi, says that this was the first-ever visit of Bhagwat to a mosque and a ‘madrasa’ where he spent more than three hours.
Neither the five ‘elite’ Muslims have explained the purpose of their visit to the RSS chief nor what transpired between the two sides. However, they told a select media group that Bhagwat raised the issue of Hindus being called “kafirs” and cow slaughter? So, Bhagwat was right to raise the issues important for the Hindu community. Of course, no one knows what the Muslim ‘elites’ precisely replied to Bhagwat’s questions. But it would be naïve to believe that Bhagwat, one of the most learned RSS leaders, will not know the answers to the questions he asked the Muslim delegation. So, it could have been a tactic to embarrass the delegation members, who would then not be able to raise their own issues strongly.
Even Maulana Ilyasi is silent about why he invited Bhagwat to his mosque and the ‘madrasa’ soon after the Muslim ‘elites’ met with the RSS leader. But Maulana Ilyasi candidly told this scribe that he did not raise the issue of demolition of ‘madrasas’, hate propaganda against the Muslim community, and Muslims being terrorized in BJP-ruled states because Bhagwat was “our guest”.
But the panegyrics the ‘elite’ Muslims showered on Bhagwat indicate they have emerged as the new spokespersons of the RSS and Bhagwat. While one of the five ‘elite’ Muslims said he was impressed by Bhagwat’s simplicity, Maulana Ilyasi went a step ahead and described him as “Rashtra Pita”, translated as Father of the Nation, in the English language. When questioned by this scribe about why did he call Bhagwat “Rashtra pita” because this term is reserved for Mahatma Gandhi, he replied that “Bhagwat is the most powerful person now and has been serving the “Rashtra” (nation) like Mahatma Gandhi.” However, Maulana Ilyasi could not explain the difference between the nationhood concept of Mahatma Gandhi and Bhagwat. While Mahatma Gandhi’s “rashtravaad” or nationhood was based on equal rights for all citizens irrespective of their faith, the “rashtravaad” of RSS, of which Mohan Bhagwat is the chief, is based on faith. And this means that people of all religions will not have equal rights as enunciated by VD Savarkar and other ideologues of Hindutva. Sources close to Maulana Ilyasi say that he is very close to RSS and BJP leaders like his father, Maulana Jameel Ilyasi, who enjoyed an excellent rapport with former prime ministers – the late Indira Gandhi and the late PV Narasimharao – of Congress.
But people close to the RSS and BJP say that the current exercise about Bhagwat’s outreach to Muslims is linked to the unfavourable developments in Leicester in the United Kingdom and innumerable developments at home. Hindutva groups holding religious flags marched through Muslim pockets of Leicester, shouting provocative slogans and attacking mosques. At home, the BJP state governments in several states have launched a campaign against Muslim seminaries and religious properties. A host of developments from mob lynching, anti-Muslim hate propaganda, the top court handing over the Babri Masjid to the rival party despite all evidence being in favour of the Masjid, courts entertaining petitions about the Gyanvapi mosque, Mathura’s Shahi Eidgah, and Badaun’s Jama Masjid despite the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act being in force, demolitions of ‘madrasas in UP, Assam and other places, the BJP government in Karnataka creating an unnecessary issue over wearing of the scarf by Muslim girl students, police targeting Muslim youths, surveying ‘madrasas’ in UP and other states, and the BJP playing divisive politics with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah remaining silent on all these issues, has created a trust deficit between the government and the BJP on the one hand, and the Muslims on the other. Therefore, the conduct of the Hindutva groups abroad and the actions of the BJP government in India are reported to have caused severe damage to India’s reputation as a liberal democratic society when India wants to play a global role. All these developments have also invited international condemnation.
Hence, Mr Bhagwat’s Muslim outreach is said to be a part of the exercise to minimize damage to India’s reputation abroad and less to bring about a reconciliation between Hindus and Muslims.
Can these issues be solved by ‘elite’ Muslims answering Bhagwat’s questions about the use of the word “kafir” for non-believers in the Quran, or the communal temperature that has shot up since 2014 be brought down through a token visit of Bhagwat to a little-known Muslim seminary and meeting an Imam of a mosque who is not held in high esteem by the Muslim community? Bhagwat’s outreach would have undoubtedly been very productive and made a lot of difference had he condemned the mindless violence by radical Hindu groups against Muslims, BJP state governments suppressing the largest minority community by criminalizing the wearing of scarfs, bulldozing of ‘madrasas’ and using UAPA against Muslim youths without evidence.
But many Muslims say that Bhagwat’s outreach to Muslims should be welcomed, even if it is tokenism and symbolic.
IMPAR’s (Indian Muslims for Progress and Reform) president Dr. M J Khan, opines that “RSS chief’s visit to a Masjid and a ‘madrasa’ is likely to send positive signals to people in India and around the world at a time when it appears that the divide between Hindus and Muslims is widening as a result of several unfavourable developments.”
Dr. Khan says that “this will generate much-needed goodwill and have a positive effect in the direction of greater communication and relationships between the two communities for the good of the country as a whole.”
Dr. Khan also called upon PM Modi “to send a clear signal to the party ruled states, to the cadre and a section of media against their precipitated actions or pursuing divisive agenda.”
“This will be the test of Mr. Mohan Bhagwat’s Muslim outreach programme,” he remarked.
“But the Muslim community on its part must also positively respond to the goodwill gesture and initiate needed reforms to serve the society and the nation better,” Dr. Khan suggested.
However, Dr. Khan has not elaborated on the kind of “reforms” the RSS and BJP want as a precondition for reconciliation between Hindus and Muslims.
Is the reconciliation between the two largest communities linked to “reforms” among Muslims? This needs to be read between the lines because of Dr. Khan’s proximity to the ruling clique and the RSS, the BJP’s ideological mentor. Shall this be taken as an olive branch to the Muslims or a threat to the beleaguered community? If Bhagwat’s outreach programme is linked to certain conditions and without justice to the minority community, it is doubtful that it will assist in reconciliation between the two communities.
The BIG question is: can there be lasting peace without JUSTICE? Mr Bhagwat must intervene and use his influence over the government to halt violence against Muslims by radical Hindu outfits and the BJP state governments committing excesses by targetting Muslim youths, demolishing their religious places and trying to capture more mosques by misuse of state machinery if the RSS supremo is really sincere about reconciliation and peace and harmomny between the two communities. However, he did not utter a word about all these things during his meeting with ‘elite’Muslim delegation and during his visit to mosque and the Islamic seminary. What shall the common Muslim understand about his silence on the vital issues facing the community? It is worth mentioning that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) was conducting raids at dozens of premises in 13 states related to the Popular Front of India(PFI), a Muslim organization, when Bhagwat was visiting the Masjid and the ‘madrasa’ in Delhi.
