Sufi conference did not demand Popular Front's ban: attendees
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New Delhi: Many prominent people, who attended the 'All India Sufi Sajjadanashin Council Interfaith Conference' held in Delhi on July 30, exposed the secret agenda of the organisers of the event. They pointed out that the organisers worked according to the central government's plan. They stated that they were invited and deceived in the name of promoting communal harmony.
The representatives also pointed out that the news that Sufi religious leaders had passed a resolution demanding the banning of the Popular Front of India (PFI) was baseless. There was no resolution to ban the organisation or any mention of it in the meeting, they clarified.
Mainstream media had reported that the conference passed a resolution to ban PFI. The news was that through a resolution, the conference demanded a ban on PFI, which is creating disunity among the citizens by engaging in anti-national activities.
Shri Swami Sarang, one of the attendees, severely came down over the organisers. He said that he did not have the opinion to ban PFI, and no such resolution was presented in the meeting. There, Hindu religious leaders were ignored. He was denied the right to speak at the conference even as a person trying to promote communal harmony, he said. He did not know when or where the resolution was passed and added that it must have been made behind closed doors. However, he is not an agent of RSS or BJP as described by PFI. He shares the opinion of Islamic scholar Syed Salman Nadvi in banning the PFI, he said.
Salman Nadvi was one of the speakers at the said conference, which National Security Advisor Ajit Doval also attended. After controversy erupted over the resolution, Nadvi posted a video saying he disagreed with the idea of a ban. He said that no resolution was passed at the conference, and he was not in favour of banning any organisation, even RSS or VHP.
Another representative, Prof. Mohsin Usmani Nadvi, also agreed with Swami Sarang and Salman Nadvi. He alleged that he was also not allowed to speak at the conference. "I was only a spectator. I went to the conference hoping to share my ideas on how to get out of the current dangerous communal situation in the country," he said.
It was Prof. Maulana Salman Nadvi who invited Prof. Usmani to the meeting. He said that he did not inquire further about the Sufi Council and did not doubt Salman Nadvi, and if he had known that the organisers had such a secret agenda, he would not have attended the meeting. He also asserted that the meeting did not demand a ban on PFI.
The reports that a resolution was passed to ban the organisation had become a considerable controversy, and PFI leaders had raised their voices against it. Popular Front National Secretary Mohammad Shakif had alleged that RSS supporters called the meeting in the name of Sufis.
The All India Sufi Sajjadanashin Council is associated with some Sufi shrines.