The dais was chaired by former Madya Pradesh chief minister and senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh, along with Hasan Kamal, Javed Siddiqui, Shamim Tariq, Shabnam Hashmi, Shahid Lateef, Khalil Zahid, Sarfaraz Arzu, Farooq Syed and others.
The Urdu Journalists Association was launched amid much fanfare at the Islam Gymkhana on Friday evening, with several veteran Urdu journalists, Urdu scholars and other eminent personalities from the community attending the event.
The dais was chaired by former Madya Pradesh chief minister and senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh, along with Hasan Kamal, Javed Siddiqui, Shamim Tariq, Shabnam Hashmi, Shahid Lateef, Khalil Zahid, Sarfaraz Arzu, Farooq Syed and others.
Talking about the recent controversy related to Bharat Mata ki Jai slogan, Singh commented, "Who asked Mohan (Bhagwat, RSS chief) to ask people to chant Bharat Mata ki Jai? And how much difference would it have made if our brother Asaduddin Owaisi (chief of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen) would have said it? Just like we oppose IS, we must oppose RSS."
Singh added, "All of these – love jihad, ghar wapsi, Bharat Mata ki Jai and all others are mere gimmicks to shift our focus from the actual issues."
Talking about the beef ban, the minister said, "What difference does it make who eats what and why? If Muslims in this country want to eat beef, let them. It is hypocrisy that when an Indian Muslim eats beef, he is spoken against, but a foreigner who eats beef in another country is welcomed with open arms and hugged freely."
He further said, "Budget talks about so much about foreign investment. But if there is no internal peace and harmony in the country, it won't make a difference at all. Live and let live."
Talking about the issue of extremism spreading in India, Singh said, "Ex-Pakistan president general Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq had also unbottled the jinn of extremism and faced consequences. India should refrain from it or else India, too, will have to face consequences."
Talking about his tiff with the Sangh parivar, the Congress leader said, "I do not have a personal tiff with Modi or the Sangh parivar. From beginning, my tiff has been about ideologies." He added, "Sangh people are taught to spread rumours."
Blaming Advani for violence in central India in the 1990s, he said, "There were communal issues in Kashmir, north and the northeast. Advani, however, decided to start a rath yatra and wherever his procession went, it spread communal terror. Otherwise, central India was known to be a peaceful place."
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