Gujarat Muslims back Modi, flay German team

A fortnight after Chief Minister Narendra Modi wrote to the Prime Minister protesting against uncharitable remarks by a German parliamentary delegation, a newly-floated organisation of Muslims has come out in support of the Chief Minister.

The United Force for Peace & Harmony has condemned the delegation’s derogatory comments about the alleged ‘persecution’ of Muslims in Gujarat under Modi. “Such remarks would widen the rift among communities in Gujarat,” said Parsoli Corporation chairman and managing director Jafar Sareshwala.

He, along with some other prominent Muslims, has formed the United Force for Peace & Harmony.

Parsoli Corporation is known among the Muslim community for running a share-broking entity that deals with what he calls ‘Shariat-compliant’ business houses. Sareshwala’s family had suffered huge losses during the 2002 post-Godhra riots but he virtually rose from the ashes to rebuild his business empire, which provides devout Muslims with options to invest in

‘Shariat-compliant’ shares, broadly meaning companies that do not deal with activities and products forbidden in the Shariat.

Declaring that the Muslim community in Gujarat lives in harmony, Sareshwala said remarks of the German parliamentary delegation were ‘unwarranted’ and ‘unprovoked’.

In a memorandum sent to the German Ambassador in India, the organisation said Gujarat has the second highest per capita madrasas, indicative of the religious freedom the Muslims.

“We have full faith in our democratic institutions and judiciary, which are enough to solve them,” according to a statement by the United Force for Peace & Harmony. It clarified that Muslims of Gujarat do not require any outside (read German) intervention.

Sareshwala also added that the German delegation had overlooked incidents in France and Denmark, where Islamic institutions had faced attacks.

Earlier this month, Modi had also shot off a letter to the Prime Minister, urging him to take up the issue with the German Ambassador in India. The Ambassador should be requested to ask delegation members to apologise for their remarks, Modi wrote.

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