At Iftar party in Jamia, RSS leader Indresh Kumar says ‘meat is disease, triple talaq sin’

Students of Jamia Milia Islamia staged a protest against an Iftar party organised by Muslim Rashtriya Manch, the RSS’s Muslim wing, on Monday evening.

MRM had invited RSS leader and MRM patron Indresh Kumar as the chief guest at the Iftar party in the university. Even as students were holding a protest against his visit, Kumar said triple talaq is a sin and suggested that eating meat is a disease.

“From Prophet Adam to the last Prophet, and even (the Prophet Muhammad’s wife) Aisha, never ate ‘gosht.’ Meat is a disease. Milk is the cure and treatment... According to their advice, those who sacrifice animals, slaughter it and eat it, in a way are eating poison, are eating diseases. They had said this should not be done. With this they also said that, at Iftar the drinks that are served, use milk in it,” he said. Talking about triple talaq he said, “When talaq is a sin, and is disliked by god, is a ‘paap’, then shouldn’t triple talaq be a ‘mahapaap?’”

The students, meanwhile, decided to stage a counter Iftar opposite the venue. They later alleged that they were not allowed to get to the venue as the Delhi Police had blockaded the area.

“The RSS has made comments that hurt Muslim sentiments in the past, and now they are staging an Iftar party. We will not allow this on our campus,” said Ehtmam, a Jamia student present at the protest site.

This was a popular opinion that echoed in posters outside Gate No 7 of Jamia. “Iftar inka bahaana hain. Sanghwaad phailana hain,” was a prominent slogan raised by the protesters.

Kumar, however, tried to speak for tolerance at the planned Iftar party “There are some tenets of Islam...One of it is ‘lakum deenukum wa liya deen.’ Each person should live according to their own religion... This is what is called secularism in English,” he said.

He also said that nationalism and patriotism are basic tenets of Islam adding that one is encouraged to love and protect their country and even sacrifice their life at its alter. “This is the path of Iman, and those who have Iman will be granted Jannah (heaven),” he added.

Kumar also said that through the MRM they had asked their Muslim brothers to plant more trees during Ramzan and asked Muslims to give up meat during the holy month.

The protesters were seen to get rowdy when confronted with blockades, and the police had to resort to minor force. Student leaders alleged that seven students had been detained by the Delhi Police, but Romila Baaniya, DCP (South-east), denied the allegation.

Some students claimed that people, who were not a part of the Jamia student community, had also joined the protest and had tried to incite violence.

“Of course the police will react with force if the crowd seems to be getting violent. However, it was not students who were doing this, they were just the ones who got caught for it. I personally saw a man, much too old to be a student, push the barricade, shove a cop and then run to the back of the crowd,” claimed Safoora Zargar, one of the many students who had gathered to protest the Iftar party.