New Delhi: National security advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval on Tuesday, July 11, said that India has "infinite capacity to absorb dissent", and no one in the country is under threat "because of your thought, because of your idea".

Speaking at the Indian Islamic Cultural Centre in New Delhi at an event organised by the Khusro Foundation, Doval said that India believes in "promoting tolerance, dialogue and cooperation" to deal with contemporary challenges and that it is "no coincidence that despite having around 200 million Muslims, the involvement of Indian citizens in global terrorism has been incredibly low".

But India will not lower its guard, the NSA stated, because of the challenges of extremism and global terrorism. "To preserve the security and stability within our borders and also rise to the security challenges beyond, India has been leading the fight – the fight against individuals and organisations – who are promoting extremism, narcotics and terrorism," he added.

The NSA and Muslim World League secretary-general Mohammad bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa addressed a gathering of religious leaders, academics and diplomats. The duo "highlighted the importance of India’s unity in diversity in relations between different communities, and in the country’s stability and progress", according to Hindustan Times.

Al-Issa is a former Saudi justice minister who is now head of the Muslim World League, an NGO funded by the Saudi government that aims to promote a moderate form of Islam and counter terrorist ideology. Al-Issa was invited by the Narendra Modi government as part of an outreach to top spiritual leaders of Muslim nations and met the prime minister on Tuesday. Indonesian and Egyptian leaders have already visited India as part of the outreach.

Doval spoke about Indian history, the arrival of Islam in the region and the ties between India and Saudi Arabia. According to the report, he said India has been a "melting pot of cultures, religions, languages and ethnicities" for centuries.

The NSA said that India is an inclusive democracy which has provided space for all citizens, regardless of religious, ethnic and cultural identities. "Amongst the numerous religious groups, Islam occupies a unique and significant position of pride, with India being home to the second largest Muslim population in the world,” he was quoted as saying by HT, adding noting Indian Muslims are equal in number to the cumulative population of more than 33 members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

The OIC has expressed concern several times over the "mounting Islamophobia and systemic targeting of the Muslim community in India". India has responded to these concerns by saying that the organisation is "manipulated" by "anti-India forces" – a euphemism for Pakistan.

“The deep spiritual content of Hinduism and Islam brought people together and helped in bringing about social and intellectual understanding of each other. It gave rise to a distinct and vibrant expression of peace and harmony,” Doval said.

Islam evolved into a "distinct syncretic tradition that is dynamic and fluid and is profoundly ingrained in Indian cultural life", he said, according to the news agency ANI.

Doval's comments on dissent and India's "infinite ability" to absorb it were in stark contrast to a speech he made to graduating police officers in November 2021. He had then said that civil society was the "fourth frontier of war" which could be "manipulated to hurt a nation’s interests".

Meanwhile, Al-Issa also spoke about the need to encourage diversity and "take benefit from the common values that we share and work to strengthen them.” He described India as a "Hindu-majority country with a secular constitution" where the Muslim community is a "very important component of society that is proud of its nationality", according to HT. The “religious awareness” of Indian Muslims should be a "tool for co-existence and promoting tolerance and cooperation", he added.

The Saudi visitor’s trip to India takes place against the backdrop of concerns raised on the international stage over the Indian government’s treatment of minorities. At a rare press conference that he addressed in Washington, Modi was asked about his government’s record on the matter.

Al-Issa's visit was been planned earlier but rescheduled due to extraneous circumstances. In June last year, India faced an unprecedented diplomatic situation over the remarks about the Prophet by a BJP party spokesperson, who was later suspended. While several countries had summoned Indian envoys, the Saudi foreign ministry only issued a condemnation.

India has forged close ties with Saudi Arabia, especially on the security front. In May this year, Doval was in Riyadh, where he met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman along with national security advisors of the UAE and the US to discuss ways to have a more “interconnected” region.

While the head of the Saudi-backed NGO was in India, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday deposited $2 billion in Pakistan’s central bank ahead of a key meeting of the IMF that will approve a bailout package.

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