NEW DELHI: Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) has praised former RSS chief K Sudarshan in an article prominently displayed in the September 22 issue of its bi-weekly mouthpiece Dawat and mourned his death. Sudarshan died in Raipur on September 15.

In the section Khabar-O-Nazar (News and Views), Dawat chief editor Parwaaz Rahmani recounted how Sudarshan wanted to visit Bhopal’s Tajul Masjid on August 20 “to say the Eid prayer or to offer Eid greetings”, but his staff and police prevented him on the pretext of traffic jam.

After the Eid namaz, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Babulal Gaur took him to the house of a Muslim acquaintance where Sudarshan offered Eid greetings, enjoyed sewaiyan and was pleased, Rahmani wrote.

English and Hindi newspapers though dismissed it as a manifestation of memory loss.

In the article, “Why did they feel sad at his death?” Rahmani wrote, “It is not known how sad the Sangh Parivar felt at the demise of K S Sudarshan.” But, the “Muslims, who on August 20 would have heard or read the news from Bhopal” must have been sad.

RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav said, “Sudarshanji had good relations with various communities, including Christians and Muslims. Muslim clerics and Christian leaders had attended his funeral in Nagpur.”

After retiring from the RSS, Sudarshan would have the “mental freedom to study Islamic beliefs. He “might have been reviewing his views on Islam and Islamic life that he had developed as a result of his long association with the Sangh”, Rahmani wrote.

JIH and RSS leaders came close to each other in jail in 1975 when both outfits were banned during the Emergency. JIH members had given Islamic literature to many RSS leaders and they exchanged views in jail.

Ram Madhav said, “RSS holds all citizens equal and believes they should live and work together. We don’t indulge in Muslim bashing. The RSS doesn’t discriminate between citizens as majority and minority, but we will raise our voice in case of disruption of social and communal harmony or national interest is hurt”. On its website, RSS published photographs of various religious leaders, including Muslim, paying tribute to Sudarshan at its Nagpur headquarters.

Earlier, in Dawat’s September 1 issue, Rahmani had called Sudarshan one of the “oldest and most important leaders” of the RSS and a well-educated person. As RSS chief, Sudarshan held dialogues with Muslim leaders and scholars. He also visited the Jamiat-ul-Ulama headquarters at Masjid Nabi. “These studies, discussions and dialogues are deeply imprinted” on his subconscious, Rahmani wrote.