Mohan Bhagwat is 'rashtra pita', says All India Imam Organisation head after meeting RSS chief

"Our DNA is the same, only our method of worshipping God is different," All India Imam Organisation head Umer Ahmed Ilyasi said after meeting RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat in Delhi.

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New Delhi: All India Imam Organisation head Umer Ahmed Ilyasi on Thursday (September 22, 2022) met Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat and called him the "rashtra pita" (father of the nation). The two held a closed-door meeting for around an hour at a mosque in Delhi, where the office of the All India Imam Organisation is located.

After the meeting, Ilyasi informed that the RSS chief visited the Madarsa Tajweedul Quran at his invitation and interacted with children there. 

"With this visit of Bhagwat, a message should go that we all want to work towards strengthening India. For all of us, the nation comes first. Our DNA is the same, it is just that our religion and methods of worshipping god are different," Ilyasi said. 

Bhagwat was accompanied by senior Sangh functionaries -- joint general secretary Krishna Gopal, Ram Lal and Indresh Kumar. While Lal was earlier organisational secretary of the BJP, Kumar is patron of the Muslim Rashtriya Manch.

Delhi | RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat held a meeting with Dr Imam Umer Ahmed Ilyasi, Chief Imam of All India Imam Organization, at Kasturba Gandhi Marg mosque today pic.twitter.com/vxfo0IPsMa

— ANI (@ANI) September 22, 2022

Sharing more details of the meeting, Suhaib Ilyasi, brother of Ahmed Ilyasi, said, "It was great that Bhagwatji came on our invitation on the death anniversary of our father. It also sends out a good message to the country."

The All India Imam Organisation is the representative voice of the community of Indian Imams and claims to be the largest imam organisation in the world. It was formed to undertake at all levels the socio-economic issues which directly influence the earnings of Imams, their status in society, and the expectations that the community and state have from them.

Over the last few weeks, Mohan Bhagwat has been holding discussions with Muslim intellectuals for strengthening communal harmony. He had recently met Delhi's former Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung, former chief election commissioner SY Quraishi, former chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University Lieutenant General Zameer Uddin Shah, former MP Shahid Siddiqui, and businessman Saeed Shervani.