NSA Ajit Doval said India is an inclusive democracy and gives space to all citizens
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — Indian Muslims are proud of their nationality and the country’s Constitution, noted Saudi scholar and Secretary General of Muslim World League (MWL), Mohammed bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa, has said.
Sharing the stage with National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval at an event here on Tuesday, Al-Issa said even when India is a Hindu-majority nation it has a secular constitution. “There is diversity. We engage with everyone in India. We have a strong relationship with Sadhguru and Pandit Sri Sri Ravishankar and several others. We have common values to promote peace and stability,” he said.
Al-Issa, who began his six-day visit to India on Tuesday, said: “We reach out to the different components and diversity with a common objective that we share. We have heard a lot about Indian wisdom and we know that Indian wisdom has contributed a lot to humanity.
“We know that we have a common objective of co-existing peacefully together. We know that the Indian component with all its diversity is a great model for coexistence not only in mere words but also on the ground and we appreciate all the efforts taken in this regard,” he said.
“A Muslim person carries the banner of peace. Islam is an open book for all and promotes coexistence,” Al-Issa noted.
Speaking after Al-Issa, Ajit Doval said that India is an inclusive democracy and gives space to all citizens, “Islam occupies a unique position in India and the Indian Muslim population is equal to 33 member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC),” Doval said.
OIC is a grouping of which Saudi Arabia and several Islamic nations including Pakistan are members.
India, Doval said, is the mother of democracy and the largest democracy and also has been a melting pot of cultures and ethnicities. It has been a sanctuary for persecuted people from across the world.
“As a proud civilisational state, India believes in promoting tolerance, dialogue and cooperation to deal with the challenges of our time,” he said.
The official also emphasised that the involvement of Indian citizens in global terrorism has been extremely low. “India is an extremely responsible power but when the need for a hot pursuit against terrorist havens was felt, we have gone all out to destroy terrorism in our national interest,” Doval said.
India, he said, is proud of its relations with Saudi Arabia. “Our ties are rooted in shared cultural values,” he said. — (With IANS inputs)
