Veering from its reputation of being a Hindu hardliner, the Sangh Parivar is looking at starting work on issues like education, employment and creating awareness among women on talaq (divorce) for the upliftment of Muslims in the state.
The Sangh's only organisation for the minority community, the Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM), will be hosting senior RSS leader Indresh Kumar, who will address a state-level conference on Saturday, the MRM's first such program in the city. Kumar, who is the chief margadarshak (guide) of the organisation, was questioned by the CBI in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blasts at Hyderabad. He is expected to speak on the results of the Lok Sabha elections, the assembly polls due in October, as well as on issues like unemployment, education, and curbing addictions among Muslim youth.
Muslims form around 10.6 per cent of Maharashtra's 11.23 crore population. However, only 2.2 per cent of the community has completed education till graduation, with the proportion being just 1.4 per cent for women. According to the Rajinder Sachar committee report, the share of Muslims in government services is just 4.4 per cent.
"The MRM is looking at increasing its activities in Maharashtra," said its state co-convenor Irfan Ali. Ali, a former activist of the RSS student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), added that they were planning courses in vocational training for Muslim youth through a Pune-based educational institution or NGOs, classes for traditional artisans like carpet weavers, and a career guidance campaign in Muslim-dominated areas and Urdu schools. Also on the cards was a a drive to curb rising drug addiction, added Ali.
The MRM was established in 2002 at the behest of then Sarsanghachalak K S Sudarshan. The organisation's website claims it was initially called the 'Rashtravadi Muslim Andolan-Ek Nayi Raah' and re-christened as the MRM in 2005.
Ali said that Kumar will address activists and religious leaders during the program. "The MRM will ensure that various central government schemes percolate to the people," he said, adding that they had commissioned a survey to study what was necessary for the development of Muslims.
The MRM is also planning a drive on talaq. A survey by the MRM in a part of the old city of Lucknow had detected had around 300 Muslim women in that area had been given oral talaq by their husbands. "We are creating awareness among Muslim women as small tiffs and disputes lead to marital discord and divorces," said Ali, adding that they were also in touch with progressive Muslim groups.
"There was an initial resistance, but the mutual acrimony had come down," said an activist of the MRM. He added that while changes in misogynist and anti-women personal laws was important, this had to be preceded by a mass movement on the ground.
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