Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi in New Delhi. (Express file photo)BJP’s Union Minister of Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi hit out at AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi Saturday accusing the latter of keeping the nation’s minorities as tenants and not stakeholders.
The BJP leader was quoted by ANI as saying, “Yeh jo secularism ke siyaasi soorma hain, inhone desh ke alpsankhyako, vishesh taur se musalmaano ko kirayedaar bana rakha tha, hissedaar nahi banaya tha. Modi ji ne desh ke 130 crore logon ko vikas ka hissedaar banaya (These people who are the champions of politics of secularism, had kept the country’s minorities, especially Muslims, as tenants and not as stakeholders. PM Modi made the 130 crore people of the country stakeholders in development).”
Minority Affairs Min MA Naqvi on Asaduddin Owaisi’s remarks: Yeh jo secularism ke siyaasi soorma hain, inhone desh ke alpsankhyako, vishesh taur se musalmaano ko kirayedaar bana rakha tha, hissedaar nahi banaya tha. Modi ji ne desh ke 130 crore logon ko vikas ka hissedaar banaya. pic.twitter.com/xxHiVUHvXx
— ANI (@ANI) June 1, 2019
The Andhra MP had on Friday said that the country’s Muslims should not worry about BJP’s return to power and that the Constitution of India gives its citizens the freedom of religion. He said, “India’s law, Constitution gives us this permission that we follow our religion,” at a gathering in Hyderabad’s Makkah Masjid, as per a PTI report.
Owaisi added that if PM Modi can go to temples and sit in a cave then Muslims can proudly pray in mosques too. “If Modi can visit a temple we can visit our mosques, if Modi can go sit in a cave, we Muslims can also proudly say our prayers in mosques. Securing more than 300 seats is not a huge thing, Because India has a living Constitution. The 300 seats of the BJP cannot take away our rights,” he said.
Naqvi took charge of the ministry on Friday and had emphasised that he will work with the mantra of ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas and sabka vishwas’, and will give priority to “3Es”– education, employment and empowerment — for development of minorities.
