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RSS chief meets Muslim clerics to foster dialogue with Hindus
The meeting was organised by the All India Imam Organisation (AIIO) at the Haryana Bhawan in national capital and lasted for about three-and-a-half hours
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Thursday met over 50 prominent Muslim clerics and scholars from across the country as part of the ongoing dialogue between the Sangh and the Muslim community leaders, an initiative that began in 2022, people aware of the matter said. Both sides decided to hold meetings between their religious leaders as a confidence building measure between Hindus and Muslims.
The meeting was organised by the All India Imam Organisation (AIIO) at the Haryana Bhawan in national capital and lasted for about three-and-a-half hours. It was coordinated by AIIO chief Imam Umer Ahmed Ilyasi.
According to people aware of the details, Bhagwat is learnt to have assured the delegation that confidence building measures between the RSS, which is the ideological fount of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the Muslim community will continue through dialogue and discussions.
In 2022, Bhagwat had accepted Ilyasi’s invitation to visit a madrasa run by AIIO in the national capital.
“The meeting comes at a time when the RSS is celebrating its centenary and the AIIO is celebrating 50 years. There has been an effort from both sides to begin a samvaad (dialogue) between the two communities. Bhagwat’s visit to the Madrasa was the first step, and today’s meeting has set the stage for expanding the scale of engagement between the two sides,” Ilyasi told HT.
Dialogue, he added, will serve to end “misunderstandings and hatred” and pave the way for “confidence building and finding solutions to problems.”
“Today’s meeting was attended by Imams and Muftis from various Ulemas and Madrasas including Deoband and Bareilly…there was a free-wheeling discussion between Bhagwat and the religious leaders about issues of national importance and how there is a need to foster dialogue at the grassroots as well,” the AIIO chief said.
In the coming months, AIIO will organise meetings in various states to find ways of engagement between communities to stem differences and disagreements, he added.
“A big take away from the interaction today was the assurance that this (dialogue) will be a permanent feature and since people listen to religious leaders, we will initiate engagement between pujaris in temples and imams in mosques, and between Gurukuls and Madrasas…this will help create a positive impact in society and will be in the interest of the country,” Ilyasi said.
Besides RSS Sarsanghchalak Bhagwat, the organisation’s joint general secretary Krishna Gopal as well as senior leaders Ramlal and Indresh Kumar were also present in the meeting.
