NEW DELHI: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has for the first time reached out to India's largest minority community with a new approach. It has asked 13 Muslim organizations to declare in a fatwa that India is a friend of Muslims and that jihad should not be waged against India or Hindus.
The VHP wants Indian Muslim organizations to clear misconceptions created by terrorist groups that maintain that jihad against India is appropriate. The VHP says it wants a fatwa from Indian Muslim scholars declaring that India is a land of peace where Muslims can practice and propagate their religion uninterrupted and that Muslims are not required to wage a religious war against the country and the people living here.
The VHP letter said that it is particularly concerned that such attacks might occur in future. Hence, it wants the fatwa to remove these misconceptions.
As the letter is issued to Indian Muslim scholars just when elections are around the corner, the political message carried by it cannot be ignored. The hard-line Hindu party has probably realized it is time it stopped pursuing an anti-Muslim agenda. The VHP is also conscious that in view of the Ayodhya issue, the Gujarat carnage and other incidents that affected Muslims, the minority community is not going to be easily swayed by attempts being made by the saffron brigade to win them over. The VHP has thus realized that it is imperative to convey this message to Indian Muslims through their own organizations.
The significance of VHP's political message would have carried little relevance were it confined to political rhetoric expressed in election speeches. The VHP is apparently serious about its intentions, whether for political reasons or otherwise, and it has approached Muslim organizations in writing.
A fatwa declaring India a friend of Islam, on VHP's demand, also implies that the saffron brigade is not against Islam. It also has no objections to Muslims practicing their religion in the country. Despite there being little doubt that political compulsions have prompted the VHP to take this step, there is no denying that it is suggestive of a major change taking place in the anti-Muslim mindset. Rather than playing politics by propagating and arousing anti-Muslim politico-communal frenzy, they are now keen to show themselves as friends of Muslims and their religion.
