'Not afraid': Imam Umer Ahmed Ilyasi gets 'sar tan se juda' threat for calling RSS chief 'Rashtra Pita'

Imam Umer Ahmed Ilyasi, who met Mohan Bhagwat on September 22, has received 'sar tan se juda' threat for calling the RSS chief 'Rashtra Pita', a term associated with Mahatma Gandhi.
Umer Ahmed Ilyasi

Ilyasi met the RSS chief on September 22 at Kasturba Gandhi Marg mosque.

Photo : PTI
New Delhi: Dr Imam Umer Ahmed Ilyasi, Chief Imam of All India Imam Organization, received a death threat for meeting Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat and calling him 'Rashtra Pita' (father of the nation) and 'Rashtra Rishi' (national saint).
Ilyasi met the RSS chief on September 22 at Kasturba Gandhi Marg mosque where the office of the All India Imam Organisation is located. The closed-door meeting, which lasted for more than an hour, was attended by senior Sangh functionaries -- joint general secretary Krishna Gopal, Ram Lal and Indresh Kumar.
Ilyasi, who received death threat after this meeting, can be heard speaking to the person over phone and telling him that he is not afraid of such threat. The term 'Rashtra Pita' is used for Mahatma Gandhi.
Ilyasi: "How can you say something like that? It does not matter where you are calling from or who you are. You can be calling from Bengal or Bangladesh. You can be a Mufti or someone else. I am not afraid of your threats. I do not need an approval or a certificate from you. I called him a Rashtra Pita and Rashtra Rishi out of my personal respect for him. I also invited him to my Ilyasi House."
Caller: "You disrespected Mahatama Gandhi by calling him Rashtra Pita."
Ilyasi: "I have not disrespected anyone. I don't need a certificate from anyone," Ilyasi continues.
Caller: I am telling you that people will no longer read Namaz behind you.
Ilyasi: I am not afraid of anything and I don't care about what will happen. I am not threatened by this.
Caller: You are a ghulam right?
Ilyasi: That does not matter, I am not threatened by you. I will not be afraid even if I get calls from across the country.

'Didn't mean to insult Gandhi": Ilyasi tells Times Now

Speaking to Times Now on receiving death threats, Ilyasi said, "I have been receiving threats ever since I met RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. Calling him Rashtra Pita was my own thought, not to demean Mahatma Gandhi. We have been kept away from RSS for over 70 years. When we will sit together and communicate then only the misunderstandings will get settled. Yeh aaj ka Bharat hai."
"The picture of changing India was visible on September 22 when Mohan Bhagwat met me. Many people hailed this step of getting together and promoting communal harmony," he added.
Further, Ilyasi welcomed the Central government's decision to ban radical outfit Popular Front of India (PFI). "I welcome the ban on communal outfits like PFI," he said.
Reacting to the death threats to Ilyasi, Prof Rakesh Sinha, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha), said, "Elements threatening Imam Umer Ahmed Ilyasi want to disturb communal harmony. They are still living in the medieval mindset. Enlightened people from the Muslim community must come up against such people."
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