RSS and Muslims

Sudheendra Kulkarni brings to our attention* a little known fact: the RSS's attempt to reach out to Muslims.

"The Rashtriya Muslim Manch is an organisation inspired and guided by the RSS to bring together nationalist Muslims. It was launched four years ago with the blessings of RSS chief K S Sudarshan. Mohammad Afzal, a Delhi-based businessman, is the national convener of the Manch. On May 11, he and his colleagues organised the finale of the Manch's yearlong nationwide campaign to pay homage to the martyrs of the 1857 War of Independence. The concluding two-day meeting at Meerut had nearly 3000 delegates from 16 states.

"Afzal says, "There are many Muslim organisations in the country. Many of them wish to keep Muslims in a ghetto, away from the national mainstream. Our organisation aims to make Muslims aware of their Indian roots. This awareness of the common bonds of nationalism that unite people belonging to different faiths is the surest way to overcome the problems facing Indian Muslims." He and his wife Shahnaz Afzal are full-time activists of the Manch, which now has eight other wholetimers. The moving spirit behind the Manch is Indresh Kumar, a senior pracharak of the RSS, deputed to work among the Muslim community."

The importance of such an initiative cannot be exaggerated.

*"Look who commemorated 1857 in Meerut" – Indian Express, 16th May 2008. Strangely the article is not available online.