A day after the Citizens for Fraternity (CFF) held their first meeting to discuss ways to douse the spreading communal fire in our society, I saw a photo in the newspapers of the first responders during the rescue necessitated by the deadly fire in Hauz Rani. Their names: Mohammad Afzal, Wasim Raja, Mohammad Shoaib, Amir Khan. Others named in an Indian Express report were Mansoor, Israr Khan, and the man who stood out amid this tragedy, Riyazuddin Mansuri and his son Armaan, who spread mattresses on the road for those trapped inside the building to jump to their safety.

There were also 10 policemen — Kartar, Deepak, Vikram, Dinesh, Rampal, Sandeep, Hargyan, Premchand, Jitendra, and Raviranjan — who helped victims out of the blaze, unmindful of the injuries they themselves suffered because they didn’t wait to get into a safer gear that would minimise their risk. The police are a much-abused lot in our system, and the fellow citizens who saved many lives belong to a community that feels victimised in its own country.

The CFF is a new effort to address an old problem. Set up as a result of a dialogue between prominent Muslim citizens with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat and senior office-bearers, it is an attempt at finding ways to bridge the growing communal divide in India that has demoralised the minorities. Perhaps the need to communicate was inspired by Bashir Badr, who passed away recently, who said, “main chup raha to aur ghalat-fahmiyan baDhin, vo bhi suna hai us ne jo main ne kaha nahin (Because of my silence, our misunderstanding grew, He even heard that which I never said).”

The CFF........

© Indian Express