THE Middle East region is going to be the focus of the Indian government this year, according to a top Indian businessman considered close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Mr. Modi has engaged with the West with satisfaction. Now his focus is shifting toward this region,” Zafar Sareshwala, chancellor of Maulana Azad National Urdu University, told Saudi Gazette in an interview on Friday. “As far as Saudi Arabia is concerned, the turning point for Mr. Modi came during the G20 summit in Melbourne when he met the then Crown Prince Salman. The two developed a close relationship instantly,” he said. Sareshwala, who is the director of Parsoli Motor India, which deals in BMW cars, said that Modi has eased the process of doing business. “He considers manufacturing a very important sector which India can cash in on. That is why he launched the Make in India campaign.” Countries in this region can play a very important part in the Make in India initiative, something Modi knew even before he became prime minister, said Sareshwala, recalling an incident in June 2013 when a Muslim delegation met Modi to bring to his attention the decision of the Congress-led government to remove Arabic and Persian languages from the Union Public Service Commission exams. “Mr. Modi expressed surprise at the decision, saying 65 percent of India's trade is with countries where Arabic and Persian are spoken. We need more officials who are well-versed in these languages,” he recalled. Sareshwala, who claims to have been penalized by the previous government for pursuing Islamic finance, said that the Modi government realizes the importance of this $2 trillion industry. Bombay Stock Exchange now has a Shariah index and a training course in Islamic finance. “We should not present it as Islamic banking, but as an alternative way of doing things. Present day banking is Jewish banking, but nobody calls it that,” Sareshwala said. The new chancellor of Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANU), a Central University located in the city of Hyderabad in the Indian state of Telangana, bemoans the status of Urdu language, which he said has been systematically sidelined since the time of independence. But now as the head of an Urdu university, Sareshwala said he is trying to make the language economically viable. MANU had no interface with industries. Now memoranda of understanding have been signed with six top Indian companies for the in-house training of students. Tie-ups with many international universities have been done. Skill development courses have been introduced. BSE is setting up a training institute at MANU in Islamic Finance. Sareshwala, who has often faced flak for being a Modi loyalist, said that Modi is a symbol of hope for Muslims. “Muslims in India don't want crumbs. They want a real piece of the cake,” he said. Sareshwala also has harsh words for Hindu hard-liners and said that they are doing a disservice to Modi by making controversial statements. But such fringe elements, he said, are disillusioned with Modi, because they were under the wrong impression that the BJP government under Modi meant a green light for their hard-line ideology.
