Article in party mouthpiece says holding Iftar parties encourages minorityism.

An editorial titled “The ‘Secular’ Tokenism” in the current issue of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) mouthpiece, Organiser, says the practice of political parties holding Iftar parties “encourages minorityism and undermines our ethos by harping on identity politics,” while defending Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not attending an Iftar hosted by President Pranab Mukherjee.

But this comes within a fortnight of the RSS’ Muslim wing, the Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM), organising an Iftar party at the Parliament House Annexe. Described as an international “inter-faith dialogue,” it was attended among others by the ambassadors of five Islamic nations, Egypt, Yemen, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Union Minister Harsh Vardhan and senior RSS leader Indresh Kumar — the co-founder and Marg Darshak of the MRM — were also present.

A few days later, the MRM organised Iftar parties in Uttar Pradesh, first in Moradabad and then in Lucknow, promising that more such events would be held across the State. Mahirajdhwaj Singh, senior RSS pracharak and MRM national co-convener, was quoted as saying, “Iftar is noble work and we are doing it to give a message of harmony.”

Evidently, the Organiser thinks otherwise, unless the MRM’s Iftar parties and the RSS’ mouthpiece are catering to different constituencies — the first to the Muslim community and liberal Hindus, while the Organiser is addressing the RSS faithful.

The article begins by quoting the RSS’ second sarsanghchalak M.S. Golwalkar, who had, while addressing newspaper editors in 1970, said, “Almost all parties are all the time encouraging Muslims to maintain their separate identity just because they want their bloc vote. Is that the way to make ‘Hindustanis’ out of them? It is obvious that the attitude of Hindus has to be set right first, before we attempt setting right the Muslims.”

It goes on to defend Mr. Modi for not attending the President’s Iftar: “Perhaps the most curious one was the Iftar hosted by Honourable President of India, as everyone was interested in knowing whether the Prime Minister of this great ‘secular’ nation would be attending it. Like last year, [the] Prime Minister did not join the party and preferred to continue with his scheduled meeting with the CMs of the north-eastern States. It was good enough reason to question his ‘secular’ credential. Some went on questioning his performing of pooja at Kashi Vishwanath and Pashupa-tinath. The issue is not who attended or not attended the Iftar but why this one religious event becomes a symbol of ‘secular’ bonhomie and tokenism.”