‘We live here because it is God’s will & because the Constitution treats us as equal citizens,’ says the Hyderabad MP
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — Responding to the Minister of Minorities Affairs Kiren Rijiju’s remarks about the safety of minorities, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi said minorities in the country do not exist at the mercy of the majority.
Calling Rijiju “minister against the minorities”, the Hyderabad MP on Monday said: “We are also proud of India, and that means that we must hold its govt accountable”. Then, he went on to draw the attention of the minister towards atrocities against minorities under his party’s watch.
“Your own party has garlanded convicted lynchers, it got a Godse-waadi terror-accused elected. One of your Delhi MLA candidates in elections is a man who called a fellow MP anti-Muslim slurs. Sangh Parivar affiliates are going after any & every masjid/dargah that they can find. Let’s not even get into His Excellency the Prime Minister whose whole election campaign was based on anti-Muslim hate speech,” said Owaisi.
“The complaint is not against India, it is against Hindutva. We don’t exist in India at the mercy of the majority, we live here because it is God’s will & because the Constitution treats us as equal citizens,” he added.
Owaisi also responded to the Union Minister’s “minorities population growing more than Hindus” remark and said, “The TFR of Muslims has fallen the fastest of any community in India. The Muslim population will not exceed 19% & can probably go down.”
Owaisi questioned as to why the BJP is “desperate” to seek praise from Israel.
“If there ever was a case of the devil quoting the scripture, it is this. Israel is currently in the middle of carrying out a genocide against Palestinians, its PM Netanyahu is an international war criminal with a warrant against him. Why is the BJP desperate for praise from a settler-state based on ethnic cleansing and second-class citizenship? Truly embarrassing and WEAK,” he said.
Owaisi’s criticism of Rijiju was in response to minister’s statement about the safety of minorities in India. Rijiju said that minorities in India are enjoying more freedom than ever, adding that the population of minorities is even increasing more than the Hindus.
In a post on X, Kiren Rijiju shared a video of former Israel Ambassador to the UK, Mark Regev, who emphasised that Jews ‘never faced persecution’ in India.
“We are proud of India! Please never say that minorities are not safe in India. In fact, minorities in India are enjoying more freedom and also increasing their numbers more than the Hindus. Still some people criticise Indian culture and traditions),” Rijiju posted on X.
