Most Muslims didn't want separate nation, idea came from few extremists: PM Modi

PM Narendra Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that the two-nation theory was imposed from the top and did not reflect the will of most Muslims who believed in unity and coexistence.

Speaking at the Rising Bharat Summit in New Delhi, PM Modi said ordinary Muslims did not conceive the idea of a separate nation, and added that it was an agenda of a few extremist elements. The Prime Minister further said that Congress aided the agenda of these radical elements before India's partition.

PM Modi said that the Congress got power after Independence due to appeasement politics, and wondered what the common Muslims got." The poor Muslim got poverty, no jobs or education, and women got injustice like Shah Bano, where their constitutional rights were crushed because of extremism," he said

Hailing the passage of Waqf bill, he said it was the second longest debate in Indian Parliament. "Right of poor Muslims and female Muslims' will be protected by the new Waqf Act ," he said.

He further said that Congress used appeasement politics of vote bank and empowered radical elements through the Waqf protests, and also encouraged land ma1fias.

"Mandir, church, Gurudwara, or government land, no body trusted that their land will be theirs, and people would be looking for papers to claim their own land," he said.

The Waqf (Amendment) Act, which was passed by Parliament last week, has come into force from Tuesday (April 8), the government said in a notification.