Banning Zakir Naik will give him more 'publicity': TMC

Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Idris Ali on Monday said banning controversial preacher Zakir Naik would not have any impact as he would receive more publicity post that.

"I am not concerned what Bangladesh does. But as a citizen of India, I don't think merely banning will make any impact as that would mean providing more publicity to him," he told ANI while responding to a poser on Bangladesh's move to ban Naik's Peace TV.

The TMC leader, however, said it was his personal opinion that Naik does not support terrorism in his speeches.

"This is my personal opinion, I have listened to Zakir Naik's speeches and I don't think his speeches ever supported terrorism. I don't think we should ban him. He will get more publicity if we ban him," Ali said.

The TMC leader's remark came post Bangladesh's move to ban the broadcasting of Peace TV following reports that one of the militants of Dhaka terror attack was inspired by Naik's misinterpretations of Islam.

Zakir Abdul Karim Naik, 51, is an Islamic preacher, who founded the Islamic Research Foundation in 1991 when he started Dawah or religious preaching.

His lectures mostly revolve around how Islam is superior to all other faiths. While he claims to be an advocate of interfaith dialogue, his preaching's' reinforce all the stereotypes which exist against Muslims.