During the nationwide Rights of Neighbours campaign (21–30 November 2025), Jamaat-e-Islami Hind turned Rajasthan into a laboratory of grassroots civic engagement, marked by several distinctive and thoughtfully designed initiatives that went beyond routine outreach.
One of the most notable features was the deliberate centring of children as moral learners and messengers. In Sikar and Kota, drawing, essay-writing and quiz competitions were organised under the CIO platform, with enthusiastic participation from children and the active presence of parents. These were not token events. Organisers used the gatherings to explain, directly to families, how everyday habits such as greeting neighbours, resolving disputes amicably and caring for shared spaces form the foundation of a healthy society. Awards at the end were meant less as prizes and more as encouragement for ethical imagination.
A further strand of the campaign that merits attention was its sustained engagement with women and children, particularly in the post-campaign phase. In Beawar and Jodhpur, the Huqooq-e-Hamsaaya initiative culminated in well-attended concluding programmes and award ceremonies organised by the women’s wing of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind in collaboration with GIO units. In Jodhpur, around 100-150 women, young girls and children participated in a dedicated programme where winners of drawing and essay competitions on “Ideal Neighbourhood, Ideal Society” were honoured, reinforcing the idea that ethical citizenship begins early and is nurtured collectively. The presence of national and state-level leaders such as Sumaiyya Maryam, National Assistant Secretary of the JIH Women’s Wing, and Shama Parveen, added both inspiration and institutional weight to the proceedings. Similar appreciation ceremonies reported in local media highlighted how children were encouraged not merely to compete, but to reflect creatively on neighbourly responsibility.
Meanwhile, in Gangapur City, a multi-faith discussion forum drew praise from participants across communities, who described the campaign as timely and deeply necessary in a society grappling with social fragmentation. Together, these programmes extended the campaign’s moral arc – linking creativity, recognition and inter-community dialogue – well beyond its formal dates.
Makrana’s symposium stood out for its depth of interfaith reflection. Beginning with Qur’anic recitation by Muhammad Ahmad, the programme brought together voices from different traditions. Pandit Kailash Ji Sharma recalled India’s long history of interreligious coexistence and urged communities to consciously rebuild weakening social bonds. Maulana Adnan articulated the Islamic conception of neighbourly rights as a moral obligation encompassing safety, dignity and welfare, while Jain scholar Nitesh Jain drew upon Jain philosophy to stress compassion and shared responsibility as pillars of social life. The session was rounded off with reflections by Abdul Aziz Gehlot and Abdul Waheed Khilji, who framed the “ideal neighbourhood” as the ethical seed from which an “ideal society” grows. Abrar Ahmad, Secretary (Milli Affairs), Jamaat-e-Islami Hind Rajasthan, provided a synthesised conclusion that linked religious values with practical civic conduct.
Equally distinctive were the campaign’s humanitarian gestures. In Beawar, volunteers visited the government Amrit Kaur Hospital to distribute fruit to patients, symbolically redefining “neighbour” to include the vulnerable and the anonymous. In the same town, a joint visit with SadbhavnaManch to Swami Brahmanand Old Age Home led to the distribution of warm socks and fruit to elderly residents, foregrounding care for those often forgotten in public discourse.
Women-led outreach in Sikar added another unique dimension. A delegation visited the Needybridge Women’s Orphanage at Piprali, engaging in conversation with the management and residents before sharing food and sweets. The emphasis here was listening first – understanding lived realities – before speaking about ideals, a reversal of the usual top-down awareness model.
Public-space engagement gave the campaign visibility without aggression. Corner meetings at the Jaitpur bus stand and door-to-door interactions in Surwal brought volunteers into everyday civic spaces. Campaign literature was distributed not only in neighbourhoods but also in schools, banks, post offices, health centres and even veterinary hospitals – quietly asserting that neighbourly responsibility extends across social roles and professions.
Kota’s city-wide programme illustrated scale and coordination. Under the guidance of local leadership, Jamaat members along with SIO and GIO volunteers conducted mosque sermons on neighbourly ethics, household outreach, and children’s activities. The concluding address emphasised that the campaign’s success would be measured not by attendance figures but by behavioural change – whether citizens actually live the values they endorse.
The Jaipur symposium on 29 November brought many of these strands together. Chaired by state president Mohammad Nazimuddin, it featured an unusually broad platform: Father Vijay Paul, Jain and Gandhian thinkers, representatives from Sikh, Dalit-Muslim, Muslim and secular forums, and civil society activists. The collective reading and adoption of a Neighbourhood Pledge – committing to non-discrimination, mutual respect and conscious fraternity – gave the event a rare sense of shared moral accountability.
What made Rajasthan’s participation distinctive was not any single programme, but the coherence between reflection and action. By combining interfaith dialogue, child-focused education, humanitarian service and everyday civic engagement, the campaign demonstrated that rebuilding society begins with repairing the smallest social unit – the relationship with one’s neighbour.