AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi attacked Union minority affairs minister Kiren Rijiu on Monday for his remarks about minorities getting more benefits in India. The AIMIM chief took strong objection to the minister’s claim where he said India is the only country where the minorities get more benefits and protections than the majority community.
Owaisi said minority rights are fundamental rights and not some charity.
“You hold a constitutional post, not a throne. Minority rights are fundamental rights, not charity,” Owaisi said, expressing his objection to Rijiju’s remark.
In a fairly longer response to Rijiju’s tweet on X in which the minority affairs minister had shared his interview with The Indian Express, Owaisi wrote, “Is it a ‘benefit’ to be called Pakistani, Bangladeshi, jihadi, or Rohingya every single day? Is it ‘protection’ to be lynched? Is it protection that Indian citizens were kidnapped and pushed into Bangladesh?”
The Hyderabad MP further wrote, “Is it a privilege to watch our homes, masjids, and mazaars being bulldozed illegally? To be made socially, politically, and economically invisible?”
Rijiju said in the interview that in the last 11 years, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government has championed the principle of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas’. Following this principle, he said, the Ministry of Minority Affairs has adopted the mantra of ‘bhagidari se bhagyodaya (participation to good fortune)’ to a result-oriented and empowerment-driven framework focused on education, skilling, entrepreneurship, and inclusion.”
He further told The Indian Express, “The approach has ensured that minority communities are active and equal participants in India’s growth story. The main point we have to understand is that minority communities are receiving more funds and support from the government than the majority community, the Hindus. Whatever the Hindus get, the minorities also do. But what the minorities get, the Hindus don’t.”
The AIMIM leader, however, asked Rijiju how it is an “honour to be the target of hate speeches from no less than the Prime Minister of India”.
“We are not asking to be compared with other minorities of other countries. We are not asking for more than what the majority community gets. We are demanding what the Constitution promises: social, economic, and political justice,” Owaisi said.
He went on to say that India’s minorities are “not even second-class citizens anymore” but “hostages”, instead.
Owaisi also asked Rijiju to talk about “favours” and answer if Muslims can be members of Hindu Endowment Boards.
“No. But your Waqf Amendment Act forces non-Muslims onto Waqf Boards — and allows them to form a majority,” Owaisi said.
He also attacked the minister over discontinuation of Maulana Azad National Fellowship and said, “You defunded the pre-matric scholarship. You limited the post-matric and merit-cum-means scholarships. All because they benefited Muslim students.”
Owaisi claimed that the Muslims are now the only group whose numbers have fallen in higher education and their presence in the informal economy has gone up.
“They have been among the worst-hit by your economic policies. This is your own government's data,” he said to Riiju.
Owaisi spoke about intergenerational mobility to say it has revered and that Indian Muslims are the only group whose children are now worse off than their parents or grandparents.
He further said Muslim-concentrated areas are the ones most starved of public infrastructure and basic services.
In an exchange of words, Riijiu also responded to Owaisi and asked him how come minorities from the neighbouring countries prefer to come to India and India minorities don't migrate.
“Prime Minister @narendramodi ji’s welfare schemes are for all. The schemes of the Ministry of Minority Affairs provide additional benefits to the Minorities,” Rijiju wrote.
Owaisi further took a jibe at the minister and said, “According to Hon’ble Minister Against Minorities, if we don’t migrate it means we are happy. Actually, we are not in the habit of fleeing: we did not run away from the British, we did not run away during partition, and we did not run away because of Jammu, Nellie, Gujarat, Moradabad, Delhi etc massacres.”
“Our history is proof that we neither collaborate with our oppressors nor do we hide from them. We know how to fight for our democratic rights and we will inshallah. Stop comparing our great nation with failed states like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal & Sri Lanka. Jai Hind, Jai Samvidhan! Thank you for your attention in this matter,” he wrote.
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