'Wanted to meet fountainhead of hate discourse, complain': Ex-CEC on 2022 meeting with Bhagwat

New Delhi, Jul 15 (PTI) Former chief election commissioner S Y Quraishi, who was part of a delegation of eminent Muslims that met RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat in 2022, says the idea behind that meeting was to go to the "fountainhead of the hate discourse" that was prevailing and complain. In an exclusive interview with PTI Videos ahead of the launch of his new book "India and I: A Hundred Memories, Not a Memoir", Quraishi recalled the meeting with Bhagwat along with former Delhi Lt Governor Najeeb Jung, journalist Shahid Siddiqui, hotelier Saeed Shervani and former deputy chief of Army Lt Gen (retd) Zameer Uddin Shah. During the meeting on August 22, 2022, Quraishi said Bhagwat told them that "hum kalpana bhi nahi kar sakte Musalmanon ke bina Hindu Rashtra ki" (we cannot even imagine a Hindu Rashtra without Muslims). Asked about the criticism from certain quarters on why they went to the RSS, a cultural organisation, with issues related to Muslims instead of approaching the government, Quraishi said, "We have heard this criticism many times. We would surely love to have engaged with the government also. But we thought we'll go to the fountainhead of this hate discourse. This whole hate narrative according to us was being spread by the RSS." "So we thought we'll go to the head and say that you know the lynching and the hate speech and the polarization which is happening, which is polluting the atmosphere in the country, is very unpleasant and we should complain to them," Quraishi, who was the CEC from July 30, 2010 till June 10, 2012, said. "He (Bhagwat) didn't invite us. We sought an appointment. He was kind enough to give us the first possible appointment within two-three weeks in Delhi. And then we complained, 'look what's happening is not pleasant and what do you think will be the future of Muslims in your Hindu Rashtra?' So he made it very clear that 'we always had Hindu Rashtra, have now and will always have'. So that's fine. "He stated that 'we cannot even imagine Hindu Rashtra without Muslims.... Hum kalpana bhi nahi kar sakte Musalmanon ke bina Hindu Rashtra ki'. That was very reassuring. Another reassuring thing he stated was that 'we are not planning to change any Constitution'. And why should they? Because they're achieving whatever they wanted to do. They have established Hindu Rashtra within the same Constitution. According to Mr. Bhagwat, they have achieved it," Quraishi said. According to the former CEC, Bhagwat in turn complained to the delegation that Hindus don't like cow slaughter and people eating beef as well as Muslims calling them "kaafirs". "These were the only complaints he made. So, our answer was that 'you have already banned cow slaughter in the country except two, three states. Enforce the ban in the entire country. It is up to you. You are running the government. Tell the government to enforce it'....Secondly, we try to explain that kafir is not an abuse. It's a Arabic word for a non-believer," he said. Quraishi said the delegation told Bhagwat that if Hindus think it is an abusive word then Muslims should avoid it. "We will not use it and we will tell others also not to use it. And in our counter complaint we said 'at the drop of a hat, you also call us Pakistani and jihadi. We also don't like it'. So he agreed that it is absolutely wrong and 'we should tell our people not to do it'," Quraishi recalled. He said it was a very positive discussion and asserted that "we would love to meet the government also if they give us time". In the book, Quraishi has talked about the episode under the header 'The Day We Met Mohan Bhagwat'. "When the meeting became public, reactions were mostly positive, though some accused us of 'legitimizing' the RSS. But they hardly need our legitimacy: they are already powerful. We are just retired citizens worried about our country," Quraishi says in the book. "We have had three meetings since. Every time he reiterates what he told us: that the Constitution is paramount, that Muslims belong to India, and that Hindu-Muslim tensions built over a century cannot be resolved overnight. It will take patience on all sides," he says. "Our conclusion is simple: we have nothing to lose and everything to gain by talking. Silence divides. Dialogue, however difficult, is still the only road ahead," Quraishi adds. PTI ASK ZMN