HVK Archives: Muslims salute the RSS
Muslims salute the RSS - Communication Combat
Hissam Siddiqui
()
1997 January
Title : Muslims salute the RSS
Author : Hissam Siddiqui
Publication : Communication Combat
Date : January 1997
(In a signed editorial in his weekly, Jadeed Markaz, published
simultaneously in Urdu and Devnagri, its editor and owner Hisam
Siddiqui pays handsome tribute to the RSS, the only organisation
whose volunteers worked day and night to help the overwhelming
Muslim relatives of those who died in the mid-air colision between
the Saudi and Kazakh aircrafts in November.)
Recently, nearly 350 persons perished in the mid-air collision
between a Saudi and Kazakh airlines. As news of the wrecked
aircraft's and its ill-fated passengers crash landing in the Khedi
Sanwal village in the Charkhi Dadri tehsil of Haryana spread, it
shocked and saddened the entire country. A large majority of the
deceased were from Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. As
soon as they heard of the tragedy relatives of those who had died
flocked to Khedi Sanwal to collect the bodies of their kith and
kin. At on the spot, the only people they found to help them in
this hour of grief were volunteers of the RSS.
Everyone was aware that 98 per cent of those who died in the
tragedy were Muslims. Despite this, not to express unreserved
praise for the sincerity with which the RSS volunteers helped the
grief-stricken families would be social hypocrisy.
It is surprising that even weeks later not a single Muslim
organisation has bothered to express even to verbally thank the RSS
volunteers who struggled-day and night to help the families
identify the badly charred bodies of their relatives. Relatives who
went to Khedi Sanwal say that if there was anyone to help them on
the spot it was the RSS activists.
According to these relatives, RSS activists not only provided tea,
snacks, food and transport, they even raised money to pay for
shrouds, coffins and transport of the dead bodies. According to an
aggrieved person from Gonda (in U.P.), some of the bodies had got
so badly decomposed that even relatives were finding it difficult
even to touch the bodies of their own son, brother or father. But
the very RSS volunteers - who are normally deployed into any number
of anti-Muslim activities - did not flinch a bit while handling the
bodies to help in their identification. After that, they helped in
covering the bodies with shrouds, placing them in the coffins and
arranging for their transport to their respective places. To
prevent the decomposition of the bodies, ice slabs had also been
arranged.
After this incident, the RSS volunteers are deserving of as much
praise as Muslim bodies and organisations and political parties
need to be condemned which are good for nothing but issuing empty
statements on issues concerning Muslims. Imam Bukhari who openly
makes money in the name of Muslims was content with leading a
ghaibana namaaz (praying for God's grace for the deceased in the
absence of his dead body).
The general secretary of the Samajwadi Party and a former U.P.
minister, Mohammed Azam Khan, whose politics hinges on Muslim
votes, discharged himself of his obligation by calling a press
conference in Lucknow and bad-mouthing the union minister for civil
aviation, C.M. Ibrahim. The reason why he could not mobilise
volunteers of the Lohia Vahini and Samajwadi Yuvjan Sabha to rush
to the aid of the victims' families was because he was circling
around his party chief, Mulayam Singh Yadav for a Rajya Sabha seat.
The wholehearted way in which Muslims not only from U.P. but all
over India support the Samajwadi Party should have meant that Khan
rushed to the spot of the tragedy and helped in providing solace
and relief to the grief-stricken. Had he done this, it would have
brought Muslims even closer to Mulayam Singh Yadav.
The big time leaders of the Janata Dal and the Congress also did
not think it necessary to budge from Delhi. The brigades of the
Congress Seva Dal and the Yuva Janata Dal slumbered in the comfort
of their homes without in the least feeling the need to go to the
tragedy spot and help the bereaved Muslims. The Jamaat-e-slami and
Asad Madni's Jamiat-ul-Ulema also remained ensconced in their
homes. By being the only people on the spot, the RSS volunteers
proved themselves to be better than this entire lot.
The role of the central government too was shameful in this tragic
episode. After hearing of the tragedy, the victims' families
rushed to the Indira Gandhi International Airport. Leave alone any
other form of help or relief, the government even did nothing to at
least help them reach the site of the tragedy.
Finally, there is the question of compensation to the families of
the deceased by Saudi airlines. The airlines has said that it will
only pay $20,000 as compensation. Ironically, the only leader who
has spoken about this amount being inadequate is Atal Behari
Vajpayee. The Muslim leaders, it appears, have taken a vow of
silence. Perhaps, because they do not wish to annoy Saudi
authorities by speaking against the official airlines of that
country. After all, that's where their donations come from.
Hisam Siddiqui, a known supporter of Mulayam Singh Yadav's
Samajwadi Party and a strong opponent of Hindutva, was not the only
one to shower well-deserved praise on RSS volunteers. A report in
a Saudi daily, AI Riyadh, filed by the Delhi correspondent of the
newspaper, Dr. Zafrul Islam Khan, is full of praise for RSS
volunteers in the rescue effort at Charkhi Dadri after the mid-air
collision between a Saudi and Khazakh aircraft in November.
Back
Top
|
