Nagpur: Amid the series of iftar parties held throughout the country by the Sangh Parivar’s Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM), their request to hold one inside RSS founder Dr Keshav Hedgewar’s memorial — Smruti Mandir at Reshimbagh, has gone unheeded. As the venues were finalized, Smruti Mandir did not feature in the list, which has left MRM activists miffed. They are alleging step-motherly treatment by their parent organization, the RSS. Recently, the state government had given Smruti Mandir the status of a tourist spot.
MRM is the Muslim outreach wing of RSS, with Indresh Kumar, an executive committee member of RSS, as patron. As a gesture of solidarity towards Muslims, iftar parties are being held throughout the country since last two years. An iftar party has also been organized on June 4 at Sahyadri, the state government guesthouse at Mumbai.
Last year, in Nagpur, the iftar feast was hosted at Mominpura, the Muslim dominated locality of the city. Now, local resentment made the organizers change the venue, said a source.
This time, MRM activists also requested that one of the iftar parties be held at Smruti Mandir. “Holding the feast within the Smruti Mandir premises could have sent a stronger message about RSS’ liberal attitude towards Muslims. However, after keeping the proposal on hold for some days, the request was finally turned down by senior functionaries whom we met,” said Mohammed Farooq, state chief of MRM.
So far two iftar events have been held in the city. The first was in Mahal, which is a RSS dominated area. Here the party was held near the Buddhu Khan Ka Minara mosque, which is a little away from the RSS headquarters. Another event was held at Yashodhara Nagar, and a third is planned at Mount Road, Sadar.
Farooq said he had been requesting senior functionaries to hold an iftar at Smruti Mandir since over a month. Finally, they flatly refused.
“The gesture has left MRM activists disappointed. It appears that we are getting secondary treatment. If the RSS indeed wants to bring Muslims closer, then why not hold the event at Smruti Mandir. It would be the ideal venue to host an iftar dinner,” he said.
Farooq said he had also assured that only vegetarian food would be served, but to no avail. Not only this, a senior member also turned down the request to hold an Eid milan get-together inside the premises.
Virag Pachpore, national convener of MRM, refused to comment on the issue.
However, a RSS source said there was no need to hold such an event inside Smruti Mandir. “There is a camp underway at Smruti Mandir, so it may not have been possible to spare space,” said the source. To this, Farooq said all that was needed was space to set up a few tables in the open ground outside
