Kerala Muslim bodies lambast Jamaat-e-Islami Hind for secret talks with RSS in Delhi

Several Muslim leaders in the State expressed displeasure at the parleys that a group of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind leaders held with their RSS counterparts in New Delhi in January.

Leaders of major Muslim bodies in the State, including Kerala Muslim Jamat led by Kanthapuram A. P. Aboobacker Musliyar (left), and senior leaders of Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) like P. K. Kunhalikutty (right), slammed Jamaat-e-Islami for its parleys with the RSS | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

The Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) has invited sharp criticism from other Muslim organisations in Kerala for a recent dialogue it held with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)in New Delhi in January.

‘Cosying up to RSS’

Some of the Muslim organisations in Kerala went to the extent of saying that the JIH was trying to cosy up to the RSS because it was afraid of the Hindu nationalist organisation and that it had some vested interests to protect.

Although the Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama office-bearers have not made any formal comment about the development, its Mushawara member Umer Faizy said that the JIH was afraid of the RSS. Mr. Faizy is one of the hardcore leaders of the Samastha who always opposed any deviation from the traditional religious path.

Historic blunder

The Kerala Muslim Jamat led by Kanthapuram A. P. Aboobacker Musliyar, said that the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind committed a historic blunder by engaging in friendly discussions with the RSS.

According to the Muslim Jamat, the RSS has been an enemy of India and Indian secular values and any dialogue with such an organisation would be tantamount to embracing an enemy. “Theocracy is something that binds both the groups. The JIH is becoming a tool for whitewashing the anti-India fascist forces,” said the Muslim Jamat.

Indian Union Muslim League leaders P. K. Kunhalikutty and M. K. Muneer said that there was no special circumstance in the country for the JIH to go for a dialogue with the RSS.

Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen State president T. P. Abdullakoya Madani alleged that what took place between the JIH and the RSS was a unilateral dialogue, and that it was natural to suspect that the JIH had some vested interests to protect.

Sunni Yuvajana Sangham leader Abdussamad Pookkoottur said that the JIH’s stand about holding a dialogue with the RSS could not be accepted at any cost.

Nearly a month after the controversial talks were held, JIH general secretary T. Arif Ali has revealed that the discussions focused on mob lynching and suppression of the marginalised sections in many parts of the country.