Jamaat-e-Islami Hind president Syed Sadatullah Husaini, during an interactive programme with journalists at JIH headquarters on March 9, which was organised to mark the completion of 75 years of the JIH’s establishment, highlighted the process of formation of Jamaat, its historical connotation, challenges at that point of time, the role and achievement of JIH since its inception, struggle of Jamaat, challenges faced during the present time and the way forward. It was more or less an introspective meet aimed at reforming Jamaat without compromising with its basic core values and ideological principles.
“The JIH 75 years programmes were designed for introduction of Jamaat across length and breadth of the country and also for introspection in order to analyse what has been achieved and lost in these years, what are our achievements and our failures and how we can improve on that as we move from here onwards,” said JIH President.
While highlighting the achievements of Jamaat over the past 75 years, the JIH president said, reducing communal hostility during the Partition was the biggest challenge faced by Jamaat. Communal riots spread across the entire nation after Partition. Large numbers of people were migrating. The Muslims who were left behind were terrified. With their Muslim identities, they believed it was impossible for them to live in India. In this situation, JIH worked to assuage this worry and tried to create confidence among them. According to him, JIH’s mission in creating confidence at that point of time was largely successful.
On the first and foremost message of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH), JIH president said, the first message of Jamaat is the “worship of One God only,” The primary responsibility of the JIH has always been to work for the welfare of the people and the country and to convey the message of Islam to fellow citizens. Along with the message of Oneness of God, JIH’s message is also the unity of humankind and justice to all irrespective of class, caste and religion. There is no discrimination with respect to colour, caste, class, wealth, place, ethnicity and nationality. Jamaat has always advocated that justice for all should be the basis of all policies and programmes of this country.
While clarifying the basic foundation of Jamaat’s stand on each and every issue be it politics should be based on moral values, the JIH president said, “Our politics today is being commercialised and instead of interest and welfare of the people commercial interest has become norms in our politics. Thereafter criminalisation of politics is also a major issue and criminals are creeping into our political system. Those who plunder wealth, commit rape and kill human beings and indulge in hate speeches, divide communities on hate lines and believe that all these are elements of politics, have become part of criminalisation politics. Commercialisation, Criminalisation and communalisation, these three Cs are the biggest crisis in Indian politics.”
On economic front, he said the basic purpose of our economic policies should be based on economic justice. There should be equal emphasis on wealth production and its distribution. There are some people who only believe in distribution. If there is no wealth production, if industries are not flourishing, markets not improving and in the absence of general welfare how can distribution take place. If the wealth is concentrated in only few hands and it has become norms in our country.
Expressing concern, JIH leader said, “Among the ten top billionaires of the world two are Indians but on the other hand India is home to half of world’s total poor people. We advocate that India should adopt policy where wealth is not concentrated in few hands but it is equally distributed. Money should flow from rich to poor and not from poor to rich which is what is happening today. Our taxation, monetary, budget policies should be based on such principles.
“Our education should be based on moral values which should be the basic foundation of our educational system. Jamaat has always tried to create awareness in this regard and has intervened as and when required. We have always demanded 6 percent of GDP allocation for budget.”
While highlighting the achievements of Jamaat, the JIH president stressed that, JIH has always promoted moderate thinking among Indian Muslims and those who are critical of Jamaat also accept this. He added, “There are chances of people taking to extremism when facing tough times. Indian Muslims have faced many tough times, but still they have not inclined towards extremism, terrorism and other evils to a large extent. In this regard, Jamaat played a very significant role as it has always followed a constructive approach.”
On the methodology of activities, he said it is clearly defined in the constitution of Jamaat. JIH follows constructive ways by remaining within the framework of the Constitution and the law of the land and will not do anything that will create anarchy, class conflict, communal hatred, and law and order problem.
The JIH chief asked the Muslim community to come together on common points and ignore sectarian differences for the larger interest and well-being of the community and the country. He urged that Muslims should unite as per the teachings of the Qur’ān and Sunnah. We should give importance to consensual points and not the ones that divide the people. He also said that JIH has always tried to create an atmosphere of harmony among different communities through interfaith dialogues.
“In order to foster an atmosphere of unity and brotherhood, the country now needs interaction among all faiths. In the past, the Jamaat has always helped and assisted victims of riots and earthquakes and during disasters. Jamaat has its student wings called SIO (Students Islamic Organisation) and GIO (Girls Islamic Organisation) and they are actively doing their work as and when required. Jamaat has also established about 1200 SadbhavnaManchs to promote communal harmony. It has established several interest-free microfinance institutions and more than 2000 educational institutions across India,” said the JIH chief.