Jamiat chief Arshad Madani’s remarks on Om, Allah prompt walkout by other religious leaders

“We have never forced anyone to join Islam. Faith can only be true if it is voluntary and not brought upon by might or force,” Madani added.

Taking the stage right after Madani’s speech, Jain monk Acharya Lokesh of Ahimsa Vishwa Bharati said, “None of us agree with what Maulana Arshad has just said. I request you, if you have to talk of anything, then talk of love between us (communities). All the stories that he (Madani) has just told—of Allah, Manu, etc.—uska chaar guna kahani main suna sakta hun (I can tell you many more stories). Madani saab, you are like my father—I invite you to Delhi for discussions, you call me to Saharanpur and I will come…you can’t erase India’s history. I don’t accept what you have said, nor do any of the sarv dharmik sants (leaders representing various religions) who are present here today. If we are in agreement with anything, then it is that we should all live peacefully together. Apart from this, all these stories you are telling are faltu ki baatein (pointless). You have ruined the sadbhavna sammelan (goodwill gathering) that was meant for unity.”

Acharya Lokesh and other non-Muslim leaders who were at the plenary session boycotted the meeting after the speech and left the stage.

Goswami Sushil Maharaj of Maharshi Bhrigu Foundation, who accompanied Acharya Lokesh off the stage, said, “We had come here to reduce the divisions between religions and communities, and to lend support to increasing unity. We don’t want to be a part of anything controversial. We will not talk about anyone else’s religion and they should not talk about ours.”

Stating that the leaders “had not come to a temple or a mosque to be sitting and talking about religion”, Swami Chandra Dev Maharaj of the Global Saint Swaraj Kalyan Foundation echoed their sentiments.

“We’ve come here to talk as Indians. To discuss how we can spread peace and love, and not talk about religion from this platform,” he said, adding that he was leaving without delivering his speech.

However, some leaders, including Swami Chidanand Saraswati of Parmarth Niketan Ashram who said there had been a “misunderstanding”, stayed back.

“This is not a matter of accepting or not accepting what was said. There seems to have been a misunderstanding…I never boycott anything because that is not the path. The path is discussion and finding resolution. That’s why we all congregate on a single platform,” he said.

Madani also talked about the importance of ensuring women’s rights. “The women in our community have fallen behind. We have to make sure that they are treated with respect and that they receive the rights due to them,” he said, adding that he was “ashamed” over the treatment of lower caste Muslims and that the issue needed to be rectified.