Maulana Mahmood Madani, President of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, on Friday expressed support for dialogue between Muslim communities and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and welcomed RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s recent remarks on sensitive religious issues.
In an interview with ANI, the Islamic Scholar said his organisation had already passed a resolution in favour of engagement, stressing that while there were “differences”, efforts must be made to reduce them.
“There are a lot of ifs and buts…My organisation passed a resolution that there should be engagement. There are differences, but we need to minimise…We will support all efforts of talks. Recently, the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat made statements on Gyanvapi and Mathura Kashi. His efforts to reach out to the Muslim community should be praised and appreciated. We will support all kinds of dialogues,” Madani told ANI.
Referring to Bhagwat’s comments on the Gyanvapi mosque and Mathura-Kashi disputes, Madani highlighted that such outreach needed acknowledgement.
Kashi and Mathura movements
Earlier, RSS chief Bhagwat stated that the Ram Temple was the only movement officially endorsed by the Sangh, although members are permitted to advocate for the Kashi and Mathura movements. He emphasised Islam’s enduring presence in India, urged every Indian to have three children to balance demographics, and blamed conversion and illegal migration for imbalances, advocating jobs for citizens.
Inappropriate and offensive language
Madani also criticised the decline in the standards of political language and discourse in recent years. He asserted that leaders across the political spectrum, including opposition leaders, and state leaders, were using inappropriate and offensive language.
Maulana Madni also credited the civil society of the country for foiling the conspiracy hatched by the Pahalgam terror attack, saying that if the incident had taken place in any other country, then there would have been a lot of chaos.
“First, the way those miscreants killed others after asking their names — I cannot thank enough my fellow countrymen, whom I don’t want to divide into Hindus and Muslims. They showed patience. It’s true — had it been any other country, who knows what kind of chaos would have happened. That’s the beauty of India,” Madani said.
We will support all kinds of dialogues.
“The biggest role in failing that shameful incident was of the civil society of this country. They understood that this is a conspiracy to make the communities living in this country fight and foiled it. This was a work bigger than Operation Sindoor,” he added.
Twenty-six tourists, including 25 Indian nationals and one Nepalese citizen, were killed in the Pahalgam terror attack by the Pakistan-backed terrorists on 22 April.
