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PM Modi calls Islam a religion of peace. But is it a case of too little, too late?

Modi wants a certain model of Islam to be followed by Indian Muslims. But that train has long left the station.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives at the opening ceremony of the World Sufi Forum at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on Thursday

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives at the opening ceremony of the World Sufi Forum at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on Thursday

Aditi Phadnis New Delhi
It is hard to understand the audience Prime Minister Narendra Modi was addressing when he said at the World Sufi Day function on Thursday that Islam is a religion of peace.

The family of Akhlaq  who was lynched in Dadri by a mob on the suspicion that he had kept beef in his fridge, is unlikely to be mollified by the PM’s statement. RSS leader Indresh Kumar, who is the pointsperson in the Sangh for reaching out to the minorities on behalf of the RSS and others in the organisation will cite the PM’s statement to emphasise that they are not against the minorities.
 

This is not the first time Modi has held out a hand to Islam – a certain kind of Islam, it must be underlined. In 2015, while talking to envoys of Islamic countries, he had said he wanted Islam (the variant he liked) to be informed by education."The Quran mentions the word 'ilm' 800 times. It is among the most repeated words after Allah. This is the importance of knowledge in the religion," he told the envoys. 

He also recalled that in 1894, at a seminar in Ahmedabad on education of Muslims, it was a Hindu who had suggested that Muslim girls be educated and the proposal had found resounding endorsement. Education and modernity must be embraced by Islam, he had suggested.

This is a slippery slope for any political leader in India. In the Shah Bano case, Rajiv Gandhi had to yield ground to conservative Islamic elements in a bid to retain the support of the political Muslim community. Modi’s statement is akin to saying: “follow my version of Islam and I will consider you an Indian”. Is this even possible in India?

You only have to look around you. Progress, modernity, education… all these values were embraced by countries like Turkey and Egypt way back. But the minorities in these countries don’t necessarily feel any safer. It is not religion that causes the problem, it is politics.

And so we come to the crux of it. Will praise of Islam win the PM or the BJP support in Assam or Uttar Pradesh that have a significant and vocal Muslim population ? The fact is that as long as Niranjan Jyoti and others keep saying what they say, Modi’s words will carry little credibility in the community to which they are directed. Modi wants a certain model of Islam to be followed by Indian Muslims. But that train has long left the station.

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First Published: Mar 18 2016 | 9:18 AM IST

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