RSS Women's Wing Says Islam "Not Religion" But "Political Aggression"
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan with Asha Sharma (in blue) and Shanta Kumari (in green) at the seminar. Credit: Twitter
New Delhi: A day before Muslims across the country celebrated Eid, the women’s wing of the RSS criticised the religion, going so far as to say “Islam is not a religion, it’s a political aggression”.
On July 6, Asha Sharma, Akhil Bharatiya Sahkaryavahika of the Rashtriya Sevika Samiti, made shocking remarks against Muslims at the seminar, Religious Terrorism: A Global Threat, held in the capital, according to an Indian Express report. Advocating a stifling of minority voices in India, Sharma argued that in places where Muslims account for 10% or less of the population, they remain passive and silent, but in larger numbers, they become assertive and eventually stop listening to anyone else.
Making crude historical linkages between Islam and violence, the report quotes Sharma as saying, "Jahan Islam jaata hai, wahan par vidhwans saath lekar ke gaya hai. Yah itihas hai, isko hum inkaar nahin sakte" (Wherever Islam goes, it brings destruction. This is history, we cannot deny this). In an obvious edification of Hindutva, she added that the spread of Islam and Christianity is marked by illiteracy and education respectively, saying "Jahan shiksha hai, wahan Islam nahi hai" (Where there’s education, there is no Islam)"
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan was the guest of honour at the event. Mahajan echoed Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina while talking about the July 1 terror attack in Dhaka, saying, “jo Ramzan ke dinon mein is prakaar se goliyaan chalane wala, Musalman ho hi nahin sakta" (those who open fire during Ramzan cannot be Muslims).
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