Modi dodges cleric’s skullcap -- ToI – 20.9.11

Maulana’s Team Fumes Over The Insult; BJP Plays Down The Incident
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad: During his three-day fast, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi was seen in an array of traditional headgear – except one. Despite trying to woo the Muslim community with his ‘Sadbhavna’ rhetoric, not once was he seen in a Muslim skullcap. In fact, on Sunday, when a maulana offered him the skull cap, he rejected it, leaving the cleric and his supporters fuming.
“The refusal is not an just insult to me but an insult to Islam,” maulana Hazrat Sufi Iman Sahi Sayeed Mehendi Husain said on Monday. “I wanted to felicitate Modi after hearing about the Sadbhavna Mission fast. I offered him the cap, but he said he would not wear it. I think he feared wearing a skullcap may dent his image,” added the man who is also known as Pirana Baba.
The maulana’s son Samsul Arafin told TOI that Modi had insulted his father. “My dad and I had gone to meet Modi,” he said. “Par bahut beizzat huve (we were humiliated). First, the security made us run from one gate to another. Finally, babaji admonished one of the organizers and only then did they allow us access to the stage. However, only Baba and I could make it to the stage, other supporters were denied access.”
The moment the maulana took out a cap from his pocket, Modi raised his hand and said, “I do not wear a cap.” As Baba was about to step down from the stage, Modi asked him about the shawl he was carrying. Baba put the shawl around Modi’s shoulders.
“Why is he adverse to the cap,” Arafin asked. “If he can put a pagdi on his head, why not a cap?”
The BJP pooh-poohed the incident, describing it as a non-issue. “Narendra Modi has clearly said his policy is not of appeasement of a section of society unlike other parties. Our approach is development for all and treating everyone equal,’’ party spokesman Vijay Rupani was quoted by PTI as saying. “Thousands of members of the minority community have come here but nobody insisted that Modi put on a skull cap. This is a non-issue which is being turned into a big one by our opponents.”