RAMEES EK hails from Kuttiyadi, in Kozhikode district, Kerala. He has done MA in Political Science from the University of Hyderabad and is currently pursuing an MPhil/PhD in Political Science from Jamia Millia Islamia. Ramees has also served the organisation as a member of the Zonal Advisory Council of SIO Kerala from 2017 to 2018 and edited its online magazine Campus Alive for a year. He also served as the Campus Secretary of SIO Delhi (2019–2020). Before his current responsibilities, he was the National Secretary of SIO in the 2021–2022 term. In an interview with MOHD NAUSHAD KHAN, he said, “We have worked on co-existence, togetherness, tolerance and communal amity and these are all a step towards nation building. The 40 years journey of SIO is itself towards nation building.”
In view of the present scenario in the country, what do you think are the challenges before SIO?
The challenging conditions have been there for the last few years. It is not a new thing for the SIO. Not only SIO, but even Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, or all the community and other civil and political organisations have been working on the said conditions for a long time. I think, in course of time we have developed a response to this situation. From the perspective of SIO, I think especially its wider presence in university campuses is important. It is not only the present scenario, Muslims have been subjected to violence for a long time in this nation; we have seen the Babri Masjid verdict and the contentious and divisive narratives against Muslims in particular and the minorities in general. The movement against the CAA was a cumulative response of the Muslim community especially from the university campuses like Jamia Millia Islamia, AMU and other campuses and SIO was also part of that movement.
After that Covid-19 emerged and there was some kind of disruption for the last two years and these days the campuses have been recovering from that situation. We are in continuation of the CAA movement in this period. So, SIO has to address that situation because there has been a kind of political maturity and a kind of political mobilisation among students. I understand, we have to address such a large students and youth community and that is a kind of challenge.
What according to you is going to be the focus area of SIO under your leadership?
Right now, I am not in a position to talk about that because the focus areas will be decided in the policy meeting of our CAC which will take place soon. But what I personally feel, we will continue to do what SIO has been doing for the past years. In policy SIO decides what to do in the present situation, keeping in minds the challenges and changes. In the last year, SIO decided to expand our activities through different platforms and forums. To reach out to different sections of the society and to cover more areas, SIO has formed or utilised existing different forums and groups at local, state and national levels. With the help of these smaller platforms, we can do more meaningful work. I think, this decision will be implemented with much attention in the coming period. Another area we would be focusing is the efforts to address the social and Islamic concerns of the new generation. We will try to address the specific concerns of this generation.
As a student leader representing students, how do you think the potential and energy of youth can be channelised towards value-based society and reconstruction of society?
This is a very important question and also very important part of SIO activities and we are working on students and youths. We can see that students have been very creative and innovative and are producing a lot of ideas and thoughts. They are creating and disseminating different ideas through different movements and other means. For example, see the debate on Dalits during protest for Rohit Vemula. They were putting forward a concept to equal societies and during CAA movement there was debate going on the conditions of Muslims in India and how to move forward to preserve our Constitution and to protect constitutional and fundamental rights of the people. The student community is thinking as well as is ready to do sacrifices.
The challenge with every studentsorganisation is to keep up with the pace and should be able to grasp the discourses they are making or what is happening in the campuses. There is also a kind of generational shift happening. Definitely the ideas and innovations of youths, if they are channelised in proper direction and conceptualised accordingly, can help create a value-based society and work towards the reconstruction of society.
What can or should be according to you the role of SIO towards nation building?
SIO has been contributing to nation building for long because SIO is a constructive students movement and working towards the reconstruction of society. We talk about discipline of society, we talk about values, peace and communal harmony. SIO has invested a lot in building peace in society and communities. We have also tried to inculcate divine guidance which is at par with social harmonies. If students are under divine guidance and in right path, they will be contributing to society and work towards nation building. We have also worked on co-existence, togetherness, tolerance and communal amity and these are all a step towards nation building. The 40 years journey of SIO is itself towards nation building.
There are many reports about Muslim backwardness and uplifting them and empowering them is also a step forward towards nation building. By timely intervention and sometimes even through legal interventions we are trying to open the ideas of education to the students. SIO has been able to put pressure on the establishment and the government to change their policies, and will continue to work to make education more accessible to students of marginalised and backward sections of society.
What do you think should be the response of the SIO against divisive narratives?
What I understand is that the situation is very complex. There is a force working against Muslims and creating hate atmosphere. Denying this reality and living in denial mode is no use. We have to navigate such a situation with utmost care. The community is already in the challenging situations and any action should not put the community in more vulnerability. Any act of an individual or a group should be evaluated according to what kind of impact it makes. Our activity should be intended to the positive impacts it could make. We have to deal with different issues differently at different places, keeping in mind the impact it will have and what good it will do to the community.
Can you briefly tell us about the policy and programmes and the focus areas of SIO?
As I mentioned, policy is about contextualising SIO’s aims and objectives according to the social and organisational conditions and specific target-oriented activities. If look broadly, we have different kinds of policies. Some are related to our prioritisation or specification on our core area of activity like Tazkiya or Da’wa. Some policies are actually guidelines for the departments of our organisation like expansion, campus, education, deenimadaris, junior associates, etc. Then some other policies are attempts to widen SIO activities to new frontiers or address the emerging social conditions or challenges. We have policies on environment, information and communication technology, art and culture and some others, too. Through such policies we are attempting to expand our activities to new areas and also, we are attempting to address the fast-developing changes in societies.