NEW DELHI: Even as Pakistan this week blamed the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) among other rightwing Hindu groups for the poor state of relations with India, the RSS has invited Pakistan’s High Commissioner Abdul Basit for Iftar next week, local reports said on Wednesday.

They said the Iftar for Muslim envoys in New Delhi was being organised on July 2 by the Muslim Rashtriya Manch (Muslim National Forum), an affiliate of the RSS.

The idea is to shed the neo-fascist group’s anti-Muslim tag, reports claimed. Men linked to the Hindutva group have been blamed by Indian agencies for the Samjhauta Express and other fatal blasts.

“The aim is to tell the world about Indian-ness, helping people from all communities live in peace and harmony... India is a ray of hope and peace for the Muslim world,” RSS leader and patron of the Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM) Indresh Kumar has been quoted as saying.

“Muslim Rashtriya Manch has urged members to host small Iftar parties by inviting people from all communities and spreading the message of brotherhood,” he said.

He urged Indian Muslims to plant a sapling each to curb pollution and bring home the ‘holy sapling’ (Tulsi) and worship it, saying it is referred to as “Rehan, also called the ‘plant of heaven’ in Holy Quran”.

The MRM was formed in 2002, the year of the Gujarat pogroms, as a platform for Muslims at the initiative of RSS with the aim of bringing the two communities together, reports said. Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan on Monday alleged that Hindu “extremist groups” like the RSS, Abhinav Bharat and Shiv Sena are the “biggest hurdle” to normalisation of Indo-Pak ties.

Published in Dawn, June 23rd, 2016