Muslim leaders welcome PM's comments

Find timing of comments curious since these come barely a week before his maiden visit to the United States

Muslim community leaders, intellectuals and youth activists have welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that Indian Muslims were first and foremost patriots. They, however, do find the timing of the comments curious since these come barely a week before his maiden visit to the United States and ask why Modi couldn’t disapprove of the hate-mongering his party leaders have in recent days unleashed against the Muslim community.

Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan, president of All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat, the umbrella body of Indian Muslim organisations, said the timing of the statement had indeed to do with the US visit of the PM. “Yes, his comments would send a positive message in the US where he has been a persona non grata for nearly a decade, but the situation has changed now that he is the PM,” Khan said. Khan added that the PM’s statement should be welcomed despite the misgivings. “Whatever might be the PM’s motivation in having said what he did, I believe his comments would have a good impact on the larger Sangh Parivar, the bureaucracy, the police’s special cell, Intelligence Bureau and other investigative agencies,” Khan said. On Friday, the PM in an interview to CNN International said anybody who thought Indian Muslims would join terror outfits like al-Qaeda were delusional. He said Indian Muslims would live and die for India, and never want anything bad for India.

The PM is scheduled for a visit to the US next week. Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind general secretary Mahmood Madani is also of the view that the PM’s comments should be viewed positively. “This is a welcome statement which should be lauded without any caveats. There should not be any politics in that,” he said.

But Syed Ahmed Bukhari, the Shahi Imam of Delhi’s Jama Masjid, found the PM’s statement offensive. He said Indian Muslims were loyal citizens of the country and needed no certificate from anyone. “The PM should talk to the people who malign our community,” Bukhari said.

Youth activist Ovais Sultan Khan, associated with a Delhi-based NGO and who has worked among victims of communal riots in Muzaffarnagar, said it was unfortunate the PM was yet to utter a word against BJP MP Yogi Adityanath and his hate-mongering against Muslims. “I don’t want a certificate of being a loyal Indian citizen from people whose actions have contributed to Muslims being marginalised and victimised,” he said.

On September 16, the All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat had issued a statement where it said that after the “disgraceful flop of their fake "Love Jihad" plank, BJP leaders were now raking up their old false claims about madrasas teaching terrorism and that meat export income was being used to finance terror.

The organisation offered to take BJP leaders to any madarsa to see whether any such education was being imparted to students, and also asserted how owners of modern slaughterhouses, which cost millions of rupees, included Hindus, Sikhs and Jains and not only Muslims.

The Bahujan Samaj Party and Congress criticised the PM’s statement. Today, BSP chief Mayawati said Modi’s comments were in contrast to the hate campaign against Muslims that his party workers had launched. “His comments are born out of political expediency and contrary to the conduct of the BJP, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and associated outfits,” she said.

In a statement issued today, BJP vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the PM’s statement wasn’t “political but nationalistic”. “The PM’s statement wasn’t made to satisfy the so-called champions of secularism but to show pride and belief in the patriotism of Muslims of India,” Naqvi said. He dissociated his party from the ‘love jihad’ campaign, and claimed Modi was working with the all-embracing goal of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’. He slammed those indulging in “dirty politics” on the issue. “The PM's statement is a befitting reply to those terror outfits that are trying to create a chaotic atmosphere to recruit Indian Muslims for their terrorist activities,” Naqvi, one of the two Muslim MPs of the BJP, said.