The National Conference leader regretted that overtly targeted actions such as the ban on halal products in some states send a very clear message to more than 200 million Muslims in the country that they must bear every humiliation and injustice with silence.
Team Clarion
SRINAGAR — Muslims across the country are being discriminated against and this abhorrent act is being legitimised by those at the helm of affairs, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference (NC) leader Farooq Abdullah has said.
“This is deplorable and should be condemned unequivocally by all those who believe in justice and equity,” he said.
In a signed statement issued here on Wednesday, the Kashmiri leader said, “Some policies and actions pursued in various states across the country are providing political patronage and cover for bigotry against Muslims resulting in marginalising them further.”
He asserted that various legislative and other actions including banning of halal-certified edible items in some states have legitimised discrimination against Muslims.
Abdullah, however, also said, “There is no place for bullying and oppression and sectarianism in a democracy” and that the “message of ‘social, economic and political justice’, ‘freedom of thought, expression, belief, religion and worship’ and equality constitute the very soul of our constitution.”
The NC leader who represents Srinagar in the Lok Sabha added: “These characteristics have given India the distinction of being a secular and democratic country all over the world.”
He regretted that overtly targeted actions such as the ban on halal products in some states send a very clear message to more than 200 million Muslims in the country that they must bear every humiliation and injustice with silence. “I think it’s bad for democracy, especially the secular democracy we were brought up on,” he warned.
Abdullah further said, “We were told it (democratic set up of the country) would be fair to minorities, fair to everybody. We were told that India belongs to everyone and the government will work for the welfare of every community. However, the government actions in these states are taking the country in the wrong direction.”
Last week, National Conference leader and vice president Omar Abdullah said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was obsessed with taking measures that were against the interests of the Muslims. To bring home his point, he cited the recent Uttar Pradesh government’s order prohibiting halal-certified edible items in the state.
He said his party was fighting for the restoration of Article 370 in the state as it does not want Jammu and Kashmir to experience what Uttar Pradesh already did.
“BJP is outrightly permitting discrimination against Muslims through laws, conflating vengeance with justice. It’s a matter of time before such a situation will come about in J&K if we don’t stop them and their cronies. Such laws coincide with the decline in the democratic stands of our country, legally moving India away from the secular and pluralist moorings of its constitution,” Omar Abdullah said while addressing a party workers’ convention in the Beerwah area of central Kashmir’s Budgam district.
