All India Imam Organization chief Imam Umer Ahmed Ilyasi described RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat as ‘Rashtra Pita (father of the nation) and a ‘Rashtra Rishi’ (sage of the nation ), after meeting him at a mosque in Delhi on Thursday.
“Mohan Bhagwat visiting us is a privilege. Bhagwat came to Imam House for a meeting and he is our Rashtra Pita and Rashtra Rishi. The unity and integrity of the country should be maintained. We may all worship in a different way, but before that we all are human. We live in India and are Indians,” IANS quoted Ilyasi as saying.
The RSS chief has held multiple closed-door meetings with some former Muslim bureaucrats, politicians and businessmen in the past month. Former Delhi Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung, former Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi, former Aligarh Muslim University Vice-Chancellor Lieutenant-General Zameer Uddin Shah (retd.), Rashtriya Lok Dal national vice-president Shahid Siddiqui and businessman Saeed Shervani were some of the people he has had discussions with.
In the meeting, which was held in August, Bhagwat reportedly questioned the Muslim attendees about their stance on cow slaughter, to which they all asserted that they are against it. The RSS chief also questioned the use of the word ‘ kafir’ for Hindus, to which he was told that it means a person who is in denial (mostly about the existence of god), The Hindu reported.
RSS spokesperson Sunil Ambekar told media that the meeting was part of the continuous discussion process. Bhagwat was accompanied by senior Sangh functionaries Krishna Gopal, Ram Lal, and Indresh Kumar.
