India has faced severe communal tension for the last about one decade owing to the activities of certain types of elements in the country coupled with the lack of interaction between people of the two communities, particularly Muslims and Hindus. The communal tension has many times led to large-scale violence, resulting in loss of life and property. Amidst such a tense atmosphere, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind and several other organizations and their leaders have formed All India Dharmik Jan Morcha (All India Religious Front) to encourage interfaith discourse to lessen the communal temperature. JIH vice-president Professor Mohammad Salim Engineer is its convener. In an interview with Syed Khalique Ahmed, Chief Editor of India Tomorrow, Prof. Salim discusses in detail the causes of current communal tension and the activities of the Jan Morcha to improve relations among various religious communities. He is of the view that religion does not cause violence but its misuse does. Here is an excerpt from the interview.
Question: Prof. Salim Sahib, we would like to know from you what is All India Dharmik Morcha. Under what conditions it was established and what is the Dharmik Jan Morcha doing to promote love and harmony among members of different communities at a time when India is facing the most difficult times in its history since Independence with regard to relations among religious communities?
Answer: India is a plural society. India is home to followers of almost all the world religions. India has a rich cultural and religious diversity. The Indian Constitution gives the freedom to practice the religion of one’s choice. The Constitution also allows the propagation of all religions. Hence, it is necessary to hold interfaith dialogue to understand each other.
Despite constitutional guarantees about freedom to propagate and practice religion, India has witnessed a trend of increasing gap among various religious communities linked with a misunderstanding about religion and culture of other communities during the last 10 years. To put it straight, the misunderstanding and gap are being deliberately widened. This has damaged the mutual trust among different communities.
Question: Hindus and Muslims are living as neighbours for centuries in this country and yet, there has developed deep hatred against each other. Is there a politics behind it or lack of knowledge about each other’s faith?
Answer: This is being done under a political agenda. There is a continuous attempt to create division and hatred in society to achieve a political objective. This is a big challenge for our country.
But this is not a new challenge. The only difference now is that there has been a rapid increase in spreading hatred for the last ten years. To meet this challenge, the All India Dharmik Jan Morcha, a front of religious leaders of various faiths, was formed in 2001. At that time, it was realized that people generally followed and trusted the religious leaders of their respective communities. The Jamaat-e-Islami Hind and other religious leaders thought to form a front comprising of Dharma Gurus to dispel misunderstandings about each other. It was decided that these Dharma Gurus should meet and talk to eradicate hatred from society and know each other’s viewpoint.
All India Dharmik Morcha is of the view that if our religious leaders work to minimize the gap between communities, it will have a great impact. This effort is going on for the last 22-23 years. We feel that the
the Jan Morcha must be more active and its work be expanded. The Dharmik Morcha aims to promote tolerance in society and encourage understanding about each other in a better way. It also seeks to honour the rights of each religion.
Question: Do you feel there is a need to teach basic tenets of all religions in a schools and educational institutions to remove misunderstanding among students?
Answer: Yes. Sure. There is a need to teach the basic principles of all religions in schools. We should teach the children about holy books and the important personalities of every religion. It seems that the effort to make the children informed about religion is missing somewhere.
We know that Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, and Parsis live in India for centuries. They need to interact with each other. The Dharmik Jan Morcha stresses making people of different religions talk to each other. The Dharmik Morcha is trying to increase interaction among people of different faiths.
One of the objectives of the Dharmik Morcha is to make people sit and talk together and exchange views on a particular topic. The Dharmik Morcha aims that if there is a social work or social service, all should come together for that. If there is a social problem, we should together try to solve that. To raise a voice against social evils is also an objective of the Dharmik Morcha. Promoting good and common values is included in Dharmik Morcha’s objectives. If there is any injustice anywhere, the Dharma Gurus need to raise their voice and we at the Dharmik Morcha take it as our objective.
Question: Ghettoes are coming up in every city, and even in villages, due to hatred against each other. According to Pew Research Centre, a large majority of Hindus, and even Jains, don’t want Muslims to be their neighbours. What is the negative impact of ghettoization on interfaith interaction?
Answer: There is one big problem in our country and that is called ghettoization; it is increasing. We see that people of one community are residing in one exclusive area and those of another community, live in another locality. The ghettoization has been deliberately forced. The insecurity due to communal flare-ups forced people to reside in localities where members of their own religious communities are in the majority. Due to this ghettoization, interaction among communities was reduced. When interaction reduces, the forces of hatred and division get a chance to spread false propaganda and rumours. Such forces get an easy chance to spread hatred between communities. We, at Dharmik Morcha, are trying to increase interaction between people.
Question: How to reduce ghettoization and promote mutual interaction?
Answer: We need to talk on a common topic. If the programme is organized by a Hindu organization, Muslims and other people should participate in that, and vice versa. This creates a good environment. The Dharmik Morcha is trying in this regard. We started this at a national level and slowly we are taking this at state levels. There are eight state chapters of the Dharmik Morcha. We are working to form more state chapters in times to come.
We need to address the causes of the ghettoization. If there is peace and no communal tension, strong action is taken against anti-social elements, and stringent action against hate speech in an unbiased manner, ghettoization will certainly be reduced. If the communal environment is
normal and there is no feeling of insecurity, people will be ready to live in any place. It is not people’s choice that Hindus should live in one locality and the Muslims should live in another locality. Such a situation is created and common people are forced to live in a particular area. You
see such news that big Muslim personalities don’t get rented homes in majority-dominated areas in big cities. They cannot buy a home in those areas and this is not restricted to common people. This applies to big names like VIPs and celebrities. This mindset of not giving houses to the Muslim community is part of an agenda. If the government wants to stop this it can easily do so. If some party’s agenda creates division to achieve political power, that is a big challenge. To fight this, we require political will. A political solution is required to fight this challenge.
Question: Do you think Dharma Gurus and social organizations can play a good role in reducing the gap at the social level?
Answer: Jamaat-e-Islami Hind is not restricted to only the Dharmik Jan Morcha to promote peace and mutual understanding. Instead, we have at the local level, at the village level, and in the case of big cities at the Mohalla level, we have given the concept of Sadbhavna Manch which is a committee of local people who are interested in communal harmony and mutual fraternity. There is no restriction on Dharma Gurus in Sadbhavna Manch. Around twelve hundred local Sadbhavna Manch are working in the country. We wish to make one thousand more Sadbhavna Manch at the local level in the next four years. We are trying to include women in Sadbhavna Manch as the need for interaction among women is also very necessary.
Wherever there is communal tension anywhere, the Jan Morcha people meet local administration to ease the situation. A team had visited the violence-hit Manipur to restore peace there. We express our views through statements on important issues.
Question: You attended a function of religious leaders at the Rashtrapati Bhawan recently. What was the message that you gave to the people of the country through your speech in the presence of the President of India and others?
Answer: It was a very good programme at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The President of India presided over the programme organized by Brahmakumaris. This was an interfaith programme titled Sabka Malik Ek (One Lord for All). This was a uniting theme. Ten different Dharm Gurus were invited to this programme. President Droupadi Murmu gave a good message. Representing Islam, I said that there is One God only. I said that the meaning of Islam is also peace. I emphasized that there can be no peace in society without justice. According to Islam, all human beings are sons and daughters of one Adam and Eve, so all are equal. If someone says that one is superior to another, that cannot be a religious talk. Religion talks about equality among all human beings. Religion says that everybody should be respected. I tried to dispel a misconception that religion causes violence. I said religion does not cause violence. It is the abuse and misuse of religion that causes violence. Those who divide people in the name of religion are a threat to society. Such people cannot be religious. I said that religious leaders should tell people that violence is the result of the misuse of religion. Religious leaders should work to eradicate hatred from society.
