‘Mohan Bhagwat is Rashtra Pita’: All India Imam Organisation chief

After holding a meeting with the RSS chief, Ilyasi told news agency PTI that “we all believe nation comes first”.

All India Imam Organisation chief Umer Ahmed Ilyasi on Thursday described Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat as "Rashtra Pita" (father of the nation). The RSS chief visited the Madarsa Tajweedul Quran in north Delhi at the invitation of the imam chief. According to an RSS functionary, the meeting was a part of the Sangh’s efforts to connect with people from a cross-section of society.

RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat.(PTI)

After holding a meeting with the RSS chief, Ilyasi told news agency PTI that “we all believe nation comes first”. “Our DNA is the same, only our method of worshipping god is different,” he added.

Bhagwat was accompanied by senior Sangh functionaries joint general secretary Krishna Gopal, Ram Lal, former organisational secretary of the BJP, and Indresh Kumar, patron of the Muslim Rashtriya Manch.

Sharing details of the meeting, the brother of Ilyasi Suhaib Ilyasi told PTI that “it was great that Bhagwatji came on our invitation on the death anniversary of our father. It also sends out a good message to the country”.

The RSS chief has been holding discussions with Muslim intellectuals for strengthening communal harmony. Recently, five eminent Muslims, including the former lieutenant governor of Delhi Najeeb Jung and former election commissioner SY Quraishi, met with Bhagwat with the proposal to work on a strategy to work for amity and communal harmony.

A meeting with representatives of other faiths has also been proposed and the two sides have agreed to find areas of disagreement that need attention.

The All India Imam Organisation is the representative voice of the community of Indian Imams. “The organisation was formed to undertake at all levels the socio-economic issues which directly influence earnings of imams, their status in society and the expectations that the community and state have from them,” says the organisation on its website.

(With inputs from PTI)