Jabalpur: The RSS-affiliated Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM) on Sunday rejected Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind (JUH) president Maulana Mahmood Madani’s claim that the minority community does not feel safe in India, saying that “separatist-minded clerics” like him are hindering the progress of Muslims.
MRM national convener SK Muddin said in a statement that Muslims have full constitutional rights and security in the country.
Madani on Saturday alleged that efforts are being made to establish the supremacy of one group in the country through actions like bulldozer action, lynching mobs, weakening of Muslim Waqf and Islamic reforms.
He also claimed that after the Babri Masjid verdict and many other decisions, the perception that the courts were working under pressure from the government had increased.
Reacting to the remarks, Muddin, a former chairman of the MP Madarsa Board, said Muslims were the “safest” in India compared to any other country and described the country as “riot-free” today.
Prohibitory orders were now rarely imposed, whereas before 2014 newspapers and TV channels carried daily reports of riots, he claimed.
Muddin said Madani failed to recognize that Muslim sons and daughters are serving the country in the armed forces, security agencies and other key institutions.
The SOUTH chief also said: “It is regrettable to say that there is an organized effort to establish the supremacy of a certain group and to render other groups legally powerless, socially isolated and economically disgraced, denigrated and disenfranchised.”
Muddin said statements made by leaders such as Madani had relegated Muslims to the background in the race for progress since independence.
He said that “Vande Mataram” was the national song and its recitation was not against Islam as it pays homage to the motherland.
According to him, the praise of one’s own land is part of the Muslim faith.
Ordinary Muslims worked hard for two meals a day and raised their families peacefully, Muddin said, alleging that clerics like Madani wanted to mislead them into rioting.
He further appealed to intellectual Muslims to be vigilant against such “separatist-minded clerics” and openly oppose them.
Meanwhile, in Bhopal, right-wing organisations, including the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), staged a protest and burnt Madani’s effigy at Roshanpura Square, accusing him of speaking ill of the country and the Supreme Court.
