BY SYED ALI MUJTABA

New Delhi July 30, 2022:  National Security Advisor Ajit Doval conducted an interfaith communal harmony meeting at the Constitution Club of India.

The conference was organized by the All India Sufi Sajjadanashin Council where forty-five religious leaders attended the meeting. They belonged to different religions and came from different parts of the country.

The inter-faith meeting was part of the Narendra Modi government’s outreach programme to maintain inter-faith harmony in the country.

Observers view that the interfaith meeting was a damage-control and firefighting exercise that was fallout from BJP’s office bearer Nupur Sharma’s intemperate remarks against the Prophet of Islam.

Observers also feel that PM Modi is creating a new class of Muslim leadership derecognizing the Muslims who come from the scientific tempered class and handing over the community’s leadership to those who are ready to say ‘Yes Prime Minister.’

The other conclusion drawn from the interfaith meeting is the BJP government does not recognize Muslim intelligentsia as the political leader fit to lead the community. So does the Muslim clergy that the BJP government is not fit to lead the community.

This is felt because the Modi government in its Muslim leadership outreach is giving prominence to the Muslims who are not at all at the forefront of the Muslim leadership.

So it is concluded that the BJP government is creating new Muslim leadership and its catchment area is those who are custodians of Muslim Sufi Saint’s Shrines or managing Muslim trusts or Muslim graveyards. These kinds of people are handpicked by the government and are recognized as the representatives of the Muslim community

The resolution drafted at the meeting suggests that the Muslim/Islamic groups alone are alone doing anti-national activity in India. Observers are of the view that this meeting was an exercise to ban the Popular Front of India (PFI) a right-wing Islamic organization, that has become activated after scores of anti – Muslim hate crimes are being reported in the country.

Surprisingly, this meeting gave a clean chit to the Hindu radical organizations, like Bajrang Dal, Ram Sena, and other such hate mongers who are equally engaged in anti-national activity.

Now let’s get down to the actual meeting. National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval was the government’s representative at the interfaith harmony meeting.

Doval while addressing the meeting said; “in the name of religion, some radical organizations are creating acrimony and conflict in the country. If we have to tackle that atmosphere, it’s important to maintain the unity of the country together. We have to make every sect of India feel that we are a country together, we are proud of it and that every religion can be professed with freedom here,” Doval said in his confidence-building speech.

The key representative of the Muslim community Hazrath Syed Naseeruddin Chishty, the chairperson of the All India Sufi SajjadaNasheen Council said; “Need of hour to rein in and ban radical organizations. Be it any radical organization, they should be banned if there is evidence against them.”  He clearly mentioned that ‘if the evidence is there against PFI, it should be banned.’ He did not utter a single word against any Hindu outfit.

The meeting ended with a resolution being passed to ban organizations like PFI and any other such fronts (mostly Islamic) that are indulging in anti-national activities.  The resolution states that action must be initiated against such outfits as per law of the land.

The resolution also strongly recommended that any person or organization found guilty with evidence of spreading hatred among the communities through any means must be acted upon as per the provisions of law.

“Targeting any God/Godesses/ Prophets in discussions/debates by anyone should be condemned and dealt with as per law,” the resolution stated.

—

Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba2007@gmail.com