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Bhagwat’s mosque visit part of ‘systematic outreach to fight Muslim fanatics’, says RSS

Prior to his visit to Delhi mosque & madrasa, the Sangh chief held talks with Muslim intellectuals. But experts assert outreach should go beyond symbolism & reflect at ground level.

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New Delhi: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) sarsanghchalak (chief) Mohan Bhagwat’s mosque visit Thursday is not an isolated incident but part of a “systematic” outreach, which has been ongoing for the past year to “fight Muslim fanatics, separatists and protect the nation”, ThePrint has learnt.

Bhagwat visited a mosque and a madrasa in Delhi on an invitation from the All India Imam Organisation (AIIO). During the visit, the RSS chief, along with Sangh functionaries Krishna Gopal and Indresh Kumar, held a meeting with AIIO chief Umer Ahmed Ilyasi at his office inside the mosque in Kasturba Gandhi Marg. He then reached Madarsa Tajweedul Quran in north Delhi’s Azadpur and interacted with students there.

In August, Bhagwat had met a group of five Muslim intellectuals — former chief election commissioner S. Y. Quraishi, former Delhi lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung,  Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Shahid Siddiqui, former vice-chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University Zameer Uddin Shah, and businessman Saeed Shervani — in the national capital.

According to RSS functionaries, the outreach is aimed at “fighting separatists and hardliners”.

Sarsanghchalak ji has been saying for long that Hindus and Muslims have the same DNA and same ancestry. We may have different ways to worship, but all of us are Indians. It is a positive sign that the Muslim organisations are inviting us, and we are also responding in an affirmative way. This will work in the national interest,” RSS’s all-India publicity head Sunil Ambekar told ThePrint.

In July last year, while addressing a programme organised by the Muslim Rashtriya Manch (an RSS affiliate), Bhagwat had said Hindu or Muslims of India share the same DNA and that the ancestors of all communities living in the country are the same.

A year later, in June this year, addressing another programme in Nagpur, he asked RSS cadres and affiliates to stop looking for a “Shivling” under every mosque.

The statement came in the midst of the ongoing Gyanvapi mosque controversy, and some Hindutva organisations claiming that many mosques were built by demolishing temples in the country.

Political experts said, however, that the outreach should not stop at “symbolism, but be reflected in ground-level decisions”.

“There is very little information available about these meetings as almost all of them are closed-door meetings. People who have been meeting Mohan Bhagwat more than he met them should understand whether or not the RSS’ ideological position is along the political line of the ruling party [the BJP]. Are they neutral, flexible and malleable? These issues can only be judged in due course of time,” former union minister Salman Khurshid told ThePrint.

“We would like to know what is the stated position of the RSS? There is no such instance of their stated position that can be taken as a reference. Has there been any instance when the RSS was seen giving comfort to the minorities who have been subjected to all sorts of atrocities? If their purpose is to find a closure to the attempts to divide the communities, nobody will complain. But for that, we need to wait and watch, and also go by instincts and not by prejudices,” the Congress leader asserted.


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‘Outreach should reflect in on-ground action’

While RSS functionaries called Bhagwat’s mosque and madrasa visits as a step towards ending “conflicts between communities” and a call to Muslims to feel and act like Indians, senior political experts highlighted the Modi government’s “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas” slogan and added that Bhagwat’s “same DNA” statement should be reflected in the actions of the RSS cadre and fringe Hindutva elements.

“This is a very important step forward and commendable, too. It should go beyond symbolic visits and meetings. The outreach and the results should reflect on the ground. The symbolism needs to be strengthened with visible actions,” said Sandeep Shastri, a senior political scientist and director of the Bengaluru-based Jain University’s Centre for Research in Social Sciences and Education.

A senior RSS functionary told ThePrint that the Sangh has been planning such outreach programmes for a long time and that it has been receiving a “positive response” from the Muslim community.

“Muslims are part of this country. We never support those who call them Pakistani. We will try to weed out such fringe elements that vitiate the country’s environment. But our efforts have to be reciprocated equally by Muslim organisations and community leaders. If that happens, we can call the outreach successful,” said the RSS functionary.

Some political experts, however, said that the RSS outreach was nothing but a “spin” on the “good Muslim, bad Muslim narrative”. 

“Dialogues are important in a democracy. But, in the delegation of Muslim intellectuals and imams who met Mohan Bhagwat, none of them represent the whole of Indian Muslims. Muslims are not homogeneous in nature in any case, and these five [intellectuals] have been criticised by other members of the Muslim intelligentsia. The question to ask if either side altered their position or stance after the meeting,” asked Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author and journalist.

He added: “Will Bhagwat lead RSS into abandoning their theory of the existence of an Islamist conspiracy to reduce Hindus into a minority? S. Y. Quraishi’s book last year debunked the RSS theory on excessive Muslim population growth. Does Bhagwat remain unchanged, or has his stance changed? Is RSS going to cease their campaigns or take action against the documented atrocities on Muslims? These are the grey areas. And I have mixed sentiments about such outreach. Bhagwat must restrain hardliners in his own camp. Not enough to say ‘this should not happen’ and remain silent when Muslims are attacked.”

According to Mukhopadhyay, it was “paradoxical to see Mohan Bhagwat and all Sangh Parivar leaders, including those in BJP, who have previously been critical of many Imams speaking on political issues, to meet one now”.

“So this is another spin, creating the binary of ‘good’ imam and ‘bad’ imam. Just like they have played the ‘good Muslim and bad Muslim’ narrative. I do not have many expectations from this process.”

(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)


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