Skullcap refusal on dais of amity

A Muslim cleric yesterday walked up to Narendra Modi and offered him a skullcap but the Gujarat chief minister politely declined to wear it.

The BJP leader, who ended his three-day fast for communal harmony today, however, accepted a shawl from Maulvi Sayed Imam Shahi Saiyed.

“I thought he would graciously accept it (the cap). After all, he has been wearing various colourful turbans and caps offered to him,” the 61-year-old cleric, who had come with his son Shamsuddin, said later.

While some observers said the cleric had virtually put Modi’s commitment on communal harmony to test with his offer, others said the chief minister’s response betrayed his dilemma.

While the chief minister is trying to burnish his political brand appeal, he wouldn’t want to risk hardliners within the wider Sangh parivar, they said, or do anything that could dent his image as a Hindutva poster boy.

The BJP played down the incident, saying the party did not believe in appeasement. “Thousands of members of the minority community have come here, but nobody insisted that Narendra Modi put on a skullcap. This is a non-issue which is being turned into a big one by our opponents,” spokesperson Vijay Rupani said.

The maulvi, a chief of the Sufi community in Gujarat, however, expressed his disappointment. “I did not want to argue, it was pointless. But I am pained. He has been wearing caps and turbans of each community but declined a Muslim one which is not a sign of sadbhavna,” he said.

“Modi’s refusal to accept the cap is not an insult to me but an insult to Islam,” Saiyed told reporters today.

“I had come to Ahmedabad after hearing about the Sadbhavna fast and went to the stage to felicitate Modi. When I offered him the cap, he told me he would not wear it. He might have thought that wearing a skullcap would dent his image.”

Modi, however, let the maulvi drape the green shawl around his shoulders.

Shamsuddin said his father had bought the cap and shawl for Rs 90. “We were asked by a government official to attend the fast. We came all the way from Rustampura, 100km away from Ahmedabad, and had to go through a lot of security hassles before we were allowed to go to the dais to greet Modi.”

Minority leader Yusuf Shaikh said the cap episode was a non-issue, but was significant as it had exposed Modi’s “drama”.