On 28th December last year, an Islamic cleric by the name of Maulana Ahsanul Haq Chaturvedi, involved in organising ‘Muslim Mahapanchayat’ in Jaipur city of Rajasthan, courted controversy by making distasteful remarks about followers of Hindu text ‘Manusmriti.’
Maulana Ahsanul Haq Chaturvedi, a spokesperson for the radical Islamist party Ittehad-e-Millat Council (IMC), told the media, “Those (Hindus) who are now targeting Muslims will attack Dalits next. If Muslims do not stand up to them (Hindus), they will target Dalits directly.”
He further claimed, “Muslims are known to shield the marginalised and therefore we protect the Dalits as a shield. So we are organising this Muslim Mahapanchayat so that we can keep protecting Dalits from Manuvadis (a derogatory reference to followers of Hindu scripture Manusmriti).”
If Muslims do not take the initiative and face the bullets for Dalits, then Manuvadis will treat them like Shudras…So we are forced to fight their battle against the Manuvadis,” he brazened out.
The Islamic cleric claimed that Muslims were thus forced to come forward and organise ‘Muslim Mahapanchayat’ in Jaipur. Sajid Saqlaini, another leader of the Ittehad-e-Millat Council who was present at the event, was quizzed about the name of the communal event.
On being quizzed about the exclusivist name of the event, specifying Muslim identity, he failed to provide a convincing response. It must be mentioned that the Ittehad-e-Millat Council (IMC) was founded by radical cleric Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan in 2001.
Dalits under attack from Muslims
While radical Islamic clerics attempt to create an imaginary alliance between Dalits and Muslims in the hopes of preventing Hindu consolidation, the reality on the ground is strikingly different.
OpIndia has documented multiple cases where Muslim mobs attacked Dalits and no Maulana expressed any solidarity with them. Despite this, they present themselves as true ‘allies’ of the Dalit community to take the latter away from the Hindu fold.
Maulana Taqueer Raza overseeing ‘Muslim Mahapanchayat’ preparations
On Monday (1st January), radical Islamic preacher Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan reached Gajraula city in Amroha district of Uttar Pradesh to oversee preparations for the ‘All India Muslim Mahapanchayat.’
As per reports, the communal event is scheduled to take place in the first week of February this year at the Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi. When Maulana Tauqeer Raza reached Gajraula, he was welcomed by his fellow co-religionists.
The Islamic hate preacher claimed that Dalits and other ‘marginalised groups’ would participate in the ‘All India Muslim Mahapanchayat.’ He said that efforts would be undertaken to end the atmosphere of hate in the country.
Maulana Tauqeer Raza lamented that all political parties have supposedly distanced themselves from the ‘Muslim society.’ Interestingly, the Islamic preacher who was mouthing platitudes about uniting the Indian society had previously made genocidal speeches against the Hindu community.
