NEW DELHI: What was meant to be a platform to strengthen interfaith solidarity to counter hate campaigns, saw some prominent non-Muslim religious leaders walk off the stage at a packed Ramlila Ground in Delhi on Sunday after Jain monk Acharya Lokesh rose to register a strong protest over a controversial speech of Maulana Arshad Madani, the president of one of the factions Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind where he also used the word “jahil” (illiterate) for those calling for ‘ghar wapsi’ of Muslims.
Rejecting the view that the original ancestors of Muslims were Hindus, Madani went on to argue that every being irrespective of religion came from Manu (the first man from whom humanity came into being as per early religious texts) and said “Om” and “Allah” were the same God worshipped by ‘Manu.’ Madani also hit out at Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat saying he feels surprised when he hears him say that those Muslims who want to stay in Islam may do so, but those who want, can go back to following their ancestors’ religion.
Soon after Madani finished his speech applauded by a capacity crowd, in a dramatic turn of events, Acharya Lokesh Muni who had given a speech earlier, rose to take the microphone, registered his disagreement with Madani’s views and left the stage along with some other religious leaders like Goswami Sushil Maharaj who is the national convenor of the Bhartiya Sarva Dharma Sansad. This even as Maulana Mahmood Madani, the president of the JUH faction steering the three-day general session of Jamiat, appealed to the religious leaders to stay on.
“We only agree with living in harmony, but all these stories regarding Om, Allah, and Manu are all baseless. I can narrate even bigger stories than that,” Muni said before leaving the stage.
In his speech Arshad Madani said, “We have never asked any religious person to leave their religion and adopt Islam. We believe that religion is something that human beings accept from their hearts.” Madani said when he asked the dharma gurus as to who was worshipped when there was no Shri Ram, Brahma or Shiva some say Manu worshipped Shiva and very few have pointed out that there was nothing in the world and Manu worshipped Om.
Rejecting the view that the original ancestors of Muslims were Hindus, Madani went on to argue that every being irrespective of religion came from Manu (the first man from whom humanity came into being as per early religious texts) and said “Om” and “Allah” were the same God worshipped by ‘Manu.’ Madani also hit out at Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat saying he feels surprised when he hears him say that those Muslims who want to stay in Islam may do so, but those who want, can go back to following their ancestors’ religion.
Soon after Madani finished his speech applauded by a capacity crowd, in a dramatic turn of events, Acharya Lokesh Muni who had given a speech earlier, rose to take the microphone, registered his disagreement with Madani’s views and left the stage along with some other religious leaders like Goswami Sushil Maharaj who is the national convenor of the Bhartiya Sarva Dharma Sansad. This even as Maulana Mahmood Madani, the president of the JUH faction steering the three-day general session of Jamiat, appealed to the religious leaders to stay on.
“We only agree with living in harmony, but all these stories regarding Om, Allah, and Manu are all baseless. I can narrate even bigger stories than that,” Muni said before leaving the stage.
In his speech Arshad Madani said, “We have never asked any religious person to leave their religion and adopt Islam. We believe that religion is something that human beings accept from their hearts.” Madani said when he asked the dharma gurus as to who was worshipped when there was no Shri Ram, Brahma or Shiva some say Manu worshipped Shiva and very few have pointed out that there was nothing in the world and Manu worshipped Om.
