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NEW DELHI: In a significant outreach to the Muslim world, Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised Islam for emphasizing the importance of education.

"The Quran mentions the word ’ilm’ 800 times. It is among the most repeated words after Allah. This is the importance of knowledge in the religion," Modi told an audience comprising the high commissioners of Saarc countries and envoys of Muslim nations such as Qatar, Bahrain, Egypt and Indonesia at his residence during the launch of the book "Education of Muslims" by historian JS Rajput and India Islamic Culture Centre president Sirajuddin Qureshi.

The PM, who broke with the capital’s tradition and did not host Iftar parties, also used the occasion to express his good wishes to the guests for the month of Ramzan starting in a few days.

The PM’s outreach so far has been usually limited to meeting community members and clerics. This book launch was the first such meeting where Modi hosted high commissioners of Muslim countries for an informal tea.

In his address, the PM highlighted India’s diversity as its biggest strength. "We are lucky that we live in a country where people speaking the same language and following a similar culture follow different faiths. This understanding of different perspectives is not possible anywhere else in the world," he said. "Understanding each other is the meeting point between various communities," he added.

He recalled a Muslim education seminar in Ahmedabad in 1894 and elaborated that a Hindu hosted it and one of the resolutions about educating Muslim girls which was unanimously adopted was also moved by a Hindu to emphasize how knowledge sharing has been happening in India for years.

Stressing on the need for openness and moving with the times, Modi said, "No community or region can ignore modernity. If we do not embrace modernity, the world will move ahead and we will be left behind." He also said that just as India had overcome polio, it could share its knowledge with Pakistan to overcome the menace.

He insisted that every religious text gave a lot of importance to knowledge and it was the only light that could show various communities the right way.

Qureshi said the PM’s message of sharing knowledge between communities should help build trust in the Saarc region. Rajput said it was imperative for people to know the basic tenets of Islam to get over the atmosphere of mistrust and distrust. Modi too said his recent visits to Saarc countries had reinforced his belief that only knowledge could bridge boundaries. The PM also stressed on the importance of education for each community and the role India stands to play in the "century of knowledge".

VHP key meeting on Ram mandir in Ayodhya today

AYODHYA/FAIZABAD: A crucial meeting of Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas, a high-powered committee authorized to take decisions regarding construction of the proposed Ram temple in Ayodhya, has been scheduled here on Tuesday to take important decisions regarding the stalled Hindutva project.
 
Former BJP MP and senior member of the Nyas, Ram Vilas Vedanti, told TOI that some "important decisions about the construction of Ram temple might be taken at the meeting".
 
"After the NDA government came to power with absolute majority, the VHP initially gave some time for the government to settle down. But with the Modi government’s first anniversary completed, we don’t want to wait for long before taking some ’big’ decision about the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya," a VHP official told TOI. Nyas chairman Mahant Nritya Gopal Das will preside over the meeting.

Former international working president of VHP Ashok Singhal and his successor Pravin Togadia have reached Ayodhya for the meeting that is likely to deliberate on forming a committee to take up the temple issue with the central government.
 
VHP media in charge Sharad Sharma said the meeting was likely to decide on forming a panel to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to find a way to construct the temple. "Stones for the proposed temple have already been carved at Maniram Chavni," Sharma said.
 
The administration has issued an alert ahead of the meeting and security personnel have been deployed in Ayodhya and Faizabad.

BJP functionaries have been saying that while they are committed to the temple, they cannot bring a bill in Parliament as the party doesn’t have a majority in Rajya Sabha. However, after lying low for a year, last month, both RSS and VHP brought the temple issue to the forefront.
 
"The BJP government should live up to the expectations of the people while fulfilling promises made to the electorate, particularly on Ram mandir and scrapping of Article 370 of Constitution that gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir," an RSS official, Arun Kumar, had said in Nagpur on the first anniversary of the Modi government last month.
 
Last week, Singhal had appealed to Muslims to hand over the disputed sites in Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura to Hindus. Earlier, VHP’s margdarshak mandal meet held last month in Haridwar too had asked the government to "clear hurdles" in the path of the temple construction.

The Parishad also rejected any formula involving construction of a temple as well as a mosque at the disputed site.
 
"No place of worship for Muslims would be allowed to come up in the huge premises having hundreds of Hindu pilgrimage centres," it said about various efforts being made to reach an out-of-court settlement on the dispute. The Ayodhya title suit to decide the ownership of disputed land is pending before the Supreme Court.
 
The Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas was founded as an independent trust by VHP in 1993 to take charge of the disputed site and oversee construction of the proposed temple.