Communal harmony must for India’s progress: Syed Sadiqali Thangal

NT Correspondent
Bengaluru:

Bengaluru's prominent charitable organisation, Shihab Thangal Centre for Humanity (STCH) will conduct a harmony conclave that stresses on the importance of promoting communal harmony, brotherhood, inclusiveness and peaceful coexistence on Friday.

The event will be attended by leading lights in the socio-political, religious and cultural fields. STCH is an initiative of the Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre (KMCC), a philanthropic organisation that has branches across the world. The conclave takes forward the events organised by the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) across Kerala from June 2 to 23 under the leadership of the party's state president and spiritual leader Panakkad Syed Sadiqali Shihab Thangal.

The Kerala events were held at a time when extremist elements from Muslim, Christian and Hindu commuities were promoting bigotry and its success has prompted the party to convene similar events in other major south Indian cities. Sadiqali Shihab Thangal sounded extremely happy to launch the conclave's south Indian journey from Bengaluru.

"Communal harmony is a must for India’s progress. People, whichever religion they believe, should coexist. I hope the Bengaluru event will give another huge fillip to this initiative," he said in an exclusive interview with News Trail. Apart from delving on the conclave, Sadiqali answered questions on politics, such as the relevance of Indian Union Muslim League, the inability of the party to make a mark outside Kerala (where it is the fourth largest political party with 15 legislators and 3 members of the Parliament) and future plans of the party, during the interview.

"Though IUML is a dominant political outfit in Kerala, it could not make inroads into other parts of India. That is a major handicap," he admitted.

Edited excerpts:

What prompted you to launch the harmony conclave?

The conclave was originally launched in Kerala, which has a long history of communal harmony. Unfortunately, cracks began to appear with extreme elements in Muslim, Christian and Hindu religions spreading seeds of hatred. The clashes between cadres of Popular Front of India (PFI) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the vicious communal campaigns by fringe elements in Christian community were a few examples.

Communal harmony is a must for India’s progress. People, whichever religion they believe, should coexist. I hope the Bengaluru event will give another huge fillip to this initiative. It is in this context that Indian Union Muslim League began the harmony conclave. We organised events in all 14 districts of Kerala, which were attended by all religious leaders, political activists and writers.

Following the feedback from the conclaves, we have urged the Union government to form a ministry of religious harmony and tolerance to protect secular values of the country. We will now organise events in major cities in south India.

What are your hopes about the Bengaluru conclave?

I am happy to inaugurate the conclave's south Indian journey from Bengaluru, a city that has a good connection with Kerala. The event is being organised by the Shihab Thangal Centre for Humanity, an organisatin under the Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre (KMCC).

KMCC is the prominent philanthropic organisation that supports the poor and needy at the time of their crisis irrespective of their religion. I hope the Bengaluru event will give a huge fillip to this initiative.

You are the president of the Indian Union Muslim League’s (IUML) Kerala unit where the party has huge presence. But your party doesn't have a pan-India presence. Why?

I agree with the fact that IUML has minimal presence in many Indian states. We always align with national and regional parties with strong secular credentials. We are a major force in a coalition led by Congress in Kerala for a long time. We align with many regional parties too. But we have plans to expand to other parts of the country.

Do you think the party's name is an impediment for its national growth? If yes, have you ever thought about a name change?

There is a misconception about our party as our rivals tend to equate us with the Muslim League of Pakistan. But Indian Union Muslim League does not have any links with them. Our party was born in India and we abide by the Indian Constitution. So, we never thought of changing the name of our organisation.

What is IUML's national political strategy?

IUML will continue to align with national and regional parties that espouse secularism. IUML alone cannot make a difference in India. The political climate in the country at the moment warrants the unity of all secular political