New Delhi: National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval presided over what is billed as an "Interfaith Communal Harmony Conference" held at the Constitution Club of India in New Delhi.
The conference was organized by the All India Sufi Sajjada Nashin Council (ISSC). As many as 45 religious leaders attended the meeting. They belonged to different religions and came from different parts of the country.
It is said that the conference was part of the Narendra Modi government's outreach programme to maintain communal and interfaith harmony in the country.
Observers view that the interfaith meeting was a damage control and firefighting exercise that was the fallout from BJP’s office bearer Nupur Sharma’s intemperate remarks against Islam and Muslims.
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 that the present 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 thinks 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 a 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 and Islamic groups alone are involved in anti-national activities". Observers are of the view that this meeting was an exercise to ban the Popular Front of India (PFI) that, according to those ruling the country today, has "become active after scores of anti – Muslim hate crimes in the country".
No Muslim will oppose if legal action is taken against PFI or any other Muslim organisation or individual, if they are involved in any kind of illegal or unlawful activities. Bur, surprisingly, Ajit Doval's Interfaith Conference was silent and gave a clean chit to the Hindu radical organizations like Bajrang Dal, Sri Ram Sena, and other such hate mongers who are equally engaged in anti-national activities.
National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval was the government’s representative at the interfaith harmony meeting. While addressing the meeting Doval 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."
The key representative of the Muslim community Naseeruddin Chishty, the Chairperson of the All India Sufi Sajjada Nasheen Council said:
"The need of the hour is 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.’ Naseeruddin Chishty however did not utter a single word against any Hindu outfits.
The meeting ended with a resolution being passed to ban the organizations like PFI and any other such fronts that, according to the organizers, are indulging in anti-national activities. The resolution states that action must be initiated against such outfits as per the 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 or debates by anyone should be condemned and dealt with as per law," the resolution stated.
True. The resolution however failed to name the right wing Hindu groups and organisations highlighted most recently by a number of International organisations, including US Department of State and the United Nations (UN), and the concerns expressed by them.
The organisers also pledged to work for peace and harmony but failed to realise (or ignore the fact) that Indian Muslims need peace and want to live in harmony more than any other religious groups in the country. And, hence along with action against other groups involved in anti-national activities, action against the groups involved in hate crimes and open targeting of Muslims should not be kept in waiting any longer.
Furthermore, Ajit Doval, as he occupies the very important office of National Security Advisor (NSA) should make sure that the patronisation of these groups by the present government, as alleged by the US Department of State, ends sooner than later.
[Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba2007@gmail.com.]
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