RSS affiliate body withdraws Iftar invite to Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit

Muslim Rashtriya Manch, an RSS affiliate body, has withdrawn its invitation to the Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit for a grand Iftar party it is organising on 2 July, according to ANI.

In what was seen an attempt to redeem its anti-Muslim, anti-Pakistan image, the right wing body had last week invited the Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit for Iftar on 2 July. According to a Times of India report, ambassadors of several other countries were also invited. According to The Dawn , Pakistan’s interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan had earlier in the same week, blamed Indian Hindu right wing organisations like the RSS to hamper the normalisation of ties between the nations. But, the Muslim Rashtriya Manch went ahead and invited Basit, saying their aim was to “tell the world about Indianness, helping people from all communities live in peace and harmony.” However, on Tuesday, just three days ahead of the party, the RSS affiliate body decided to withdraw its invitation, citing Pakistan’s failure to condemn the attack on a CRPF convoy in Pampore in south Kashmir. The national convener of Muslim Rashtriya Manch told ANI that the body has decided to withdraw its invitation.

Apparently, Basit had earlier downplayed the deadly attack on the CRPF convoy by asking the media to focus on the Iftar party during Ramzaan. “We hope we will sit and discuss on the issue and find a solution. It’s the month of Ramzaan, let’s focus on this Iftaar party,” Basit told the media when asked to react on the Pampore attack. The Muslim Rashtriya Manch was founded in December 2002, the same year as the infamous anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat. Their official website claims that the group founded by nationalist Muslims and functionaries of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) aims to bridge the widening rift between the Hindu and Muslim communities.