Speaking on the occasion, Maulana Arshad said “We all had one ancestor. The Holi festival gives the message of brotherhood. People should live in unity.”

Earlier on February 12, Arshad Madani sparked controversy 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 the 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 forcibly converted anyone to 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.