Mohan Bhagwat at KG Marg Mosque in outreach to Muslims
By Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi, September 22: In an arguably first publicized visit to a mosque, Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh supremo Mohan Bhagwat on Thursday held discussions with the all India Imam chief Imam Umer Ahmed Ilyasi.
The RSS under the watch of Bhagwat for years has been promoting outreach to the Muslim intellectuals through Rashtriya Muslim Manch.
However, Bhagwat’s visit to the KG Marg Mosque in the heart of the national capital is a first big outreach to the Muslims after the Covid019 pandemic.
“Mohan Bhagwat ji visited on my invitation today,” Ilyasi told reporers after Bhagwat’s visit to him.
The Imam further hailed Bhagwat as ‘rashtra-pita and rashtra-rishi’, saying that the visit will send out a good message.
“Our ways of worshipping god are different but biggest religion is humanity. We believe country comes first,” Ilyasi further told reporters.
It may be known that Bhagwat has attended several close-door meetings with the Muslim intellectuals in the past during which he is said to strike a stance of a listener, while nudging discussions on themes closer to his heart.
Bhagwat in several speeches have underlined that all the people who reside in India who may have different ways of worshipping are essentially one, stressing on the unity plank.
On his instructions, former Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi had hosted Muslim intellectuals and leaders ahead of the Ram Janmabhoomi verdict of the Supreme Court, with the stated aims to build willingness among the communities to accept “whatever verdict is delivered” by the apex court.
However, Bhagwat’s mosque visit has come at a time when the Assam and Uttar Pradesh governments are scanning the madrassas. Besides, the Varanasi district court has ruled that the civil suit for the right to offer prayers within the Gyanwapi Mosque will be entertained.
Bhagwat had sought to calm down the tempers in the wake of the Gyanwapi Mosque row after the leak of the video, which purportedly showed a Shivling by remarking “har masjid mein Shivling kyun dekhna”.
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