- Monday, March 10, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Mohan Bhagwat, the chief of India’s right-wing Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), on Thursday (22) visited a mosque in Delhi and met its chief cleric.
Bhagwat has been meeting leaders from the Muslim world in what many are saying in an unprecedented reach.
On Thursday, Bhagwat met Umer Ahmed Ilyasi, the chief cleric of the All India Imam Organisation at a mosque in the heart of the national capital and not far from top government and political offices, NDTV reported.
The meeting was called a “closed door” one and lasted more than an hour.
“It sends out a very good message to the country. We had discussions like a family. It was wonderful that they came on our invitation,” Suhaib Ilyasi, the cleric’s son, was quoted as saying by the report.
Asian News International cited sources in the RSS that said issues such as Hijab controversy; Gyanvapi mosque; and maintenance of peace and harmony were discussed during the meeting. Besides Bhagwat, some senior RSS members such as Dr Krishna Gopal, Indresh Kumar, Ramlal, and Karish Kumar were also present at the meeting.
Sunil Ambekar, the Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh of RSS, told ANI that the meeting was a part of the ‘Samvad‘ (discussion) process.
“RSS Sarsanghachalak meets people from all walks of life. It’s the part of a continuous general ‘Samvad’ process,” he said.
The RSS chief has been meeting Muslim intellectuals of late to try and “strengthen communal harmony”, the organisation has said. The move has been termed significant especially in the aftermath of the Hijab row in the southern state of Karnataka and suspension of Nupur Sharma, a member of India’s ruling Hindu right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), over her allegedly controversial remarks on Prophet Muhammad that triggered violence and protests in India and even diplomatic row in the Muslim world.
Last month, Bhagwat met with five Muslim intellectuals and shared his concerns about the “current atmosphere of disharmony” in India, it is learnt.
Both sides agreed to tone down divisive rhetoric and discussed what each had objections to.
India’s former chief election commissioner SY Quraishi, who was present at the meeting, said that Bhagwat was worried about the situation in the country.
“I’m not happy with the atmosphere of disharmony. It is completely wrong. the country can move ahead only with cooperation and cohesion,” he quoted the RSS chief as saying.
The RSS is the ideological mentor of the BJP.
