‘Muslims in Gujarat should strengthen rapport with Hindus’

He was addressing a gathering at a felicitation function organised by the All India Milli Council,Jamiat-ul-Ulema,and the state unit of the Congress party here on Sunday.

He said there were certain forces that want to create differences between communities by imposing their ideology. But they will not succeed as over 90 per cent of the people in the country are secular and believe in the welfare of all,he added.

He cited the Charkhi Dadri incident in which local Hindus had helped to recover the bodies of Muslims killed in a collision between Saudi and Tadjikistan airliners,and the Dabwali fire incident in which a Muslim trader lost his life while rescuing Hindu women and children,and said that these incidents indicated the secular fabric of Indian society.

Regarding the problems faced by Muslims in Gujarat,he said such problems should be treated as national issues,adding that a united effort should be made to solve them.

Qasmi,who played a leading role in the revival of the Congress in Bihar,wanted the Centre and the state governments to create educational infrastructure in the Muslim areas to promote education among them and make them feel part of the mainstream.

Felicitating Qasmi,Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Shaktisinh Gohil said that the majority of Hindus were secular and those opposed to secular values were only a handful. He further said that such people will never succeed in their design to divide society.