Mohan Bhagwat is 'rashtra-pita' & 'rashtra-rishi': All India Imam Organisation's chief after meeting RSS head

All India Imam Organisation head Umer Ahmed Ilyas after RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat visited him at a mosque in Delhi praised the latter calling him a 'rashtra-pita' (father of the nation).

"Bhagwat is a 'rashtra-pita' and 'rashtra-rishi', a good message will go out from his visit," said the Chief Imam.

Further he said, "Our ways of worshipping god are different but biggest religion is humanity. We believe country comes first."

Bhagwat met with Umer Ahmed Ilyasi at a mosque in the heart of the capital city, not far from top government and political offices.

Recently, Bhagwat had held discussions with Muslim intellectuals for strengthening communal harmony.

In the August 22 meet, Bhagwat had met former Chief Election Commissioner S Y Qureshi, former Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung, former Aligarh Musilm University vice chancellor L-G (retd) Zameer Uddin Shah, former MP Shahid Siddiqui and Industrialist and social worker Saeed Sherwani.

"So we said it is banned practically across the country. The Muslims are law abiding and if anyone violates it, it is a huge mistake and there should be punishment," Quraishi said.

Mohan Bhagwat discussed points of concern to him, like cow slaughter, which upsets the Hindus, he said.

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

Sharing details of the meeting, Suhaib Ilyasi, brother of Ahmed Ilyasi, said, "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 Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief has been holding discussions with Muslim intellectuals for strengthening communal harmony.

During the meeting, Bhagwat had raised the issue of usage of the word "kafir" for Hindus which, he said, does not send out a good message. The Muslim intellectuals, on the other hand, objected to some right-wing activists calling the Muslims "jihadi" and "Pakistanis".

The Muslim intellectuals also told Bhagwat that the real intent behind the usage of 'kafir' was something different, but in some quarters now, it is being used as an "abuse".

Published on: Thursday, September 22, 2022, 04:58 PM IST