Staff Reporter / NEW DELHI
India’s prominent Muslim body, the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) has termed the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020 as an attempt to divide society along religious lines and target a particular community.
Talking to media JIH Vice President Prof. Salim Engineer said that the recent legislation of the Uttar Pradesh government related to inter-religious marriages goes against the spirit of our Constitution. “It endangers the freedom of conscience and the right to profess practice and propagate religion. It is condemnable and an attempt to divide society along religious lines and target a particular community. The slur of “love-jihad” given to this fictitious narrative of Muslims boys going after Hindu girls is highly condemnable. It is also an insult to the women of our country, who are perceived to be mere gullible victims that are “allured” to stray away from the fold of their clan and community,” he said.
Speaking on farmers’ agitation, Prof. Salim Engineer said: “the Jamaat stands firmly with the farmers. The three laws that deal with MSP, contract farming and essential commodities were passed in Parliament without consultation and by overlooking parliamentary norms. They are part of a larger scheme of things in which the agricultural ecosystem of India is being modified for the benefit of corporates and multinationals. The government is discarding its basic responsibilities in the fields of primary and higher education, healthcare, infrastructure maintenance and handing them to corporates and multinationals. Attempts to discredit the farmers and accusing them of being secessionists, ignorant of the facts and pawns in the hands of the Opposition – is a dangerous trend and a highly objectionable attempt to suppress and discredit any democratic opposition to the government policies.” He added, “the government’s intransigence during the negotiations with the farmers’ representatives shows that it has made the farmers’ demand of repealing the laws into an ‘ego’ issue and does not care about the suffering of the protestors. The government’s offer of giving a written assurance that government procurement at MSP would remain and the laws can be amended to maintain parity between state-run and private ‘mandis’ is a case of ‘too little and too late’.”
Speaking on 6th December 2020, which marks the 28 years to the Babri Masjid demolition, Prof. Salim Engineer said, “Jamaat-e-Islami Hind along with all the justice-loving people of the world consider it a dark day in the history of our nation and one that caused grievous and irreparable damage to India’s democracy and secular ethos. The Muslim community along with a large number of fellow citizens was deeply offended and had to bear the brunt of the communal riots that followed the demolition. Unfortunately, both the state and the judiciary failed to undo the historic wrong perpetuated by the communalists and assuage the sentiments of the community.