New Delhi : Several religious leaders walked off the stage from the 34th General Session of Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind, after the President of the organisation Syed Arshad Madani made a controversial speech.
Jain Muni, Acharya Lokesh Muni, who was also present on the stage expressed displeasure with Madani's remarks and said, "We only agree with living in harmony, but all the story regarding, Om, Allah, and Manu is all rubbish. He (Madani) completely spoiled the atmosphere of the session."
"The stories he said, I can narrate even bigger stories than that. I would even request him (Madani) to come for a discussion with me, or even I can come to meet him in Saharanpur," he said.
He added by saying, "It should be remembered that the first Jain Tirthankar was Rishabh, and his sons were Bharata and Bahubali, on whose name this country 'Bharat' was named. You can't erase this. We don't agree with those statements."
Earlier in the day, the President of Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind, Syed Arshad Madani sparked controversy by saying when he "asked the Dharma Gurus that when there was no one, neither Shri Ram nor Brahma nor Shiva, then whom did Manu worship?"
He added, "Some told me that they used to worship 'Om'. I said that it is the 'Om' only, that we refer to as Allah, those speaking Farsi refer as 'Khuda' and those speaking English refer as 'God'."
"This means that there is only one Om or Allah, and both are same, and it is the only thing Manu used to worship. There was no Shiv, no Brahma, but only one Om and Allah that was worshipped," Madani said.
Addressing the session, Madani also said, "Hindus and Muslims have been living in the country like brothers for around 1400 years, and we have never forcedly converted anyone into Islam."
"It is only under the BJP government that we heard that 20 crore Muslims should be sent home. By sending them home, they meant converting them to Hindus. These people don't know anything about India's history," he added.