By Siddhant Mohan, TwoCircles.net
A couple of days back when Jamiat leaders met Narendra Modi with a delegation of 25 people, the general public was informed that the dialogue between two parties focused more on ‘opening the door for mutual communication’.
At least this is what the Jamiat leaders wanted us to believe through their press note.
But the statement released by Prime Minister’s office clearly focusses on issues and topics which were not mentioned in the JUH’s statement.
At first, the statement from the PMO reads, “They (JUH) appreciated the Prime Minister’s stand on the issue of Triple Talaq.”
But interestingly, Triple Talaq was mentioned hardly anywhere in the statement made by the JUH on the same even as it appeared twice in the PMO’s statement.
Moreover, the PMO’s statement said, “On Triple Talaq, the Prime Minister reiterated that the Muslim community should not allow this issue to be politicized, and urged the assembled gathering to take the responsibility for initiating reform in this regard.”
In reference to this, JUH’s statement said, “PM also appreciated our stand that the divorce was internal issue of the Muslim community and the community itself should take reformative steps.”
According to Mahmood Madani, “PM Modi was apprehensive about growing hatred in the name of cow protection and he assured that he would not let this trend prosper.” But when one looks at PMO’s statement side by side, it seems that cow vigilance and subsequent violence was not an issue for Narendra Modi.
JUH seemed much worried about the cow vigilance that the statement and the letter handed over to the PM Modi crucially mentioned the Gau-rakshaks and related violence.
However, the Prime Minister’s Office was seemingly less worried for cow-vigilance activities and instead focussed more on religious terrorism, especially Islamic terrorism.
PMO’s statement said, “Noting that terrorism is a major challenge, they(JUH) expressed a common resolve to combat it with all their might. They added that it is the Muslim community’s responsibility that under no circumstances should anyone compromise the nation’s security or well-being.”
“They said that the Muslim community would never allow any conspiracy against India to succeed,” it added.
But, yet again, the only terrorism that JUH talked was worried over and which is more virulent these days, is the ongoing hate campaign being carried in the name of cow.
As PMO claimed, “The delegation also appreciated the implementation of minority welfare schemes under the Union Government.” But JUH was seemingly not worried at the moment about the schemes and their implementations related to minority welfare.
Moreover, the delegation as well as the government, in past times too, have failed to address and question the presence of National Security Advisor Ajit Doval in such meetings. Ajit Doval has always been present whenever PM Modi has met Muslim delegation and has also addressed such meets.
This time too, the release from PMO added, “Welcoming the delegation, National Security Advisor, Shri Ajit Doval, said that the whole world is looking at India today, and it is the responsibility of all segments of Indian society to take the nation forward.”
So, one wonders if this meeting was anything more than a PR exercise by the PMO and JUH and whether they listened to each other at all.