New Delhi, April 19: On April 7, Jadeed Khabar, a Delhi-based Urdu daily, carried a picture on its front page with a curious caption.

It said: "The government released the news along with the photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying prominent Muslim leaders met him and discussed the community's problems.

"But despite all efforts, the background of these Muslim leaders could not be ascertained. Who did they represent and what organisations did they belong to? Sources said they were all long-time well-wishers of the BJP."

A day before, on April 6, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had posted a tweet along with a photo showing him and a delegation of Muslims earlier that day. "Had a good meeting with leaders of the Muslim community," Modi tweeted. A government media release had described them as "senior leaders of the Muslim community from across the country".

The tweet and the caption echo a debate: who should the government engage with if it wants to reach out to a community?

Some Muslim community leaders and activists are alleging that the Prime Minister, rebuffed by a prominent organisation last month, is meeting "nondescript" leaders with BJP links to conjure an impression of his acceptability among the minority community.

But BJP leader and junior minority affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi contested the perception, saying what mattered was not whether the delegates were "prominent Muslim leaders" but that they met and told the Prime Minister "about the community's problems".

He added: "The government is working to address those issues concerning minorities and also for their empowerment."

Asked why the statement from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) had described the delegates as "senior leaders of the Muslim community from across the country", he said: "I don't know."

Activist Shaista Rafat said the "issues" that, according to the PMO release, the delegates had raised before Modi suffered from key omissions.

The release said the delegates had discussed:

• "Trend of increased radicalisation and emerging threat of terrorism";

• "Issues relating to properties of Muslim shrines, masjids and madarsas";

• "Better facilities to Muslim youth particularly in the field of education."

Rafat said: "It's shocking that they didn't raise any specific issue, not even the hate speeches and the attacks on minorities and problems related to economic and educational backwardness. This was nothing but a political gimmick."

Of the nine names the PMO release mentioned, The Telegraph could ascertain the background of just three after talking to community activists, leaders and journalists and even two of the delegates themselves.

Of the trio, two are locked in succession battles over the control of Sufi shrines and the third has veered towards the BJP after hobnobbing with Arvind Kejriwal when he contested the Lok Sabha elections against Modi from Varanasi last summer. (See chart)

All nine delegates are "self-styled community leaders" without any standing in the community, said Zafaryab Jilani, executive member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, an apex body where members of various schools of thought have come together to defend Muslim personal law.

Jilani said that one of Modi's most vocal supporters, Gujarat businessman Zafar Sareshwala, had for the past several months been trying to persuade the Law Board to meet the Prime Minister.

But when Sareshwala entered the venue of the Law Board's annual convention in Jaipur on March 22, the members accused him of being "the Prime Minister's representative" and shooed him away.

"After facing the rejection last month, Modiji is now searching for his own leaders in the community," Jilani said.

"The meeting with a group of nondescript Muslims is just an indication of that. It was planned and organised by the party (BJP)."

Zafarul Islam Khan, who heads the All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat, an umbrella body of Muslim organisations, too referred to last month's "snub to the Modi government".

"The government has earned a bad name in the country as well as globally because of the hate speeches (by BJP and Sangh representatives) and attacks on Christians and their places of worship," Khan said.

"To try and showcase that the government had minority support, they managed to bring some unknown faces to send a message across that all was well."

Khan said that Muslim organisations, led by the Law Board, had made it clear that they would consider meeting Modi only after his government took strong measures against those creating fear in the minds of minorities.

"Despite recurring hate campaigns and attacks on minorities, he has done nothing to stop this. What is the point in meeting him?" Khan said.

Sareshwala, however, described the April 6 meeting as a positive development.

"We shouldn't dwell on whether those who met the Prime Minister were influential or unknown in the community. What is important is that a channel of communication has been opened."

On the Law Board's refusal to talk to Modi, at least for now, he said: "It was simply foolish. After all, he is the Prime Minister of India. Leaders of all communities should meet him and express their concerns."

Sareshwala had been appointed chancellor of Hyderabad's Maulana Azad National University, a central university, in January on a recommendation routed through the government, as is the routine.

The delegates

On April 7, this newspaper spoke to two of the nine delegates. Contact details of the remaining seven remained unavailable.

Allama Tasleem Raaza Sahib said: "The meeting with Modiji was arranged by a mediator from the BJP. It was a very fruitful meeting and we look forward to meeting him again."

Asked who the mediator was, he replied: "It will be unfair on my part to disclose his name."

Syed Sultan-Ul-Hasan Chishti Misbahi of the Ajmer Sharif Dargah said: "I was invited to the meeting by the BJP. I congratulate Modiji for lending a helping hand in solving the Muslim community's problems."

But soon after the PMO release on the meeting was issued, the Diwan of Ajmer Sharif contested its description of Misbahi as the successor to the shrine head, reserving the claim for himself. In his capacity as Diwan, Zainul Abedin looks after the arrangements for the annual Urs festival at the shrine.

Abedin accused Misbahi of "misleading" the Prime Minister with his claim of being the appointed successor, and said his entry into the PMO under "false pretences" amounted to a "security breach".

"Misbahi is associated with the BJP's minority cell in Ajmer; that's why he was invited," Abedin told this newspaper.

"There are nearly 3,000 khadims (priests) claiming to be the descendants of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti (to whom the shrine was built) but I'm the official one."

A prolonged court battle is on between the Diwan and the khadims in several courts in Jaipur and Ajmer.

Masoom Moradabadi, Delhi-based editor of Jadeed, said even "people in their own localities" did not know the delegates.

"They chose some opportunist members of the community for a politically motivated meeting. It was a good photo op for Modiji and the government's machinery publicised it well."

He added: "Our senior journalists tried their best to check the backgrounds of these self-styled Muslim leaders but failed."

Moradabadi wanted to know what Ajit Doval, the national security adviser, was doing at the meeting. The photo shows Doval sitting to Modi's left.

Rafat, the activist, said: "It seems Modiji is dividing the community and trying to set up a parallel leadership in the community to counter the All India Muslim Personal Law Board."

Rafat, who has been at the forefront of a campaign to empower Delhi's Muslim women through education, asked why the delegation did not include a single woman.

The PMO release said: "The Prime Minister gave a patient hearing to the delegation and assured them of his full support in meeting grievances of all sections of the Muslim society. He emphasised the need of empowerment of the Muslim youth to enable them to play a larger role in nation building.

"He specifically assured the leaders that he will look into their grievances on shrines, masjid and madarsas. He further promised his complete assistance in ameliorating their social conditions and addressing their educational requirements.

"The Muslim leaders reiterated full support of the community to the Prime Minister in meeting his objectives of ensuring speedy economic growth, promoting communal harmony and peace and strengthening national security."