Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi
Union Minister of Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, in an exclusive conversation with India TV, said that there is no Islamophobia in India and the minorities have flourished in the last six years under the Modi government. “I don’t have any complaints against foreigners who have accused us of Islamophobia. But I am not happy with our own people levying such allegations,” said Naqvi, responding to a question about the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) expressing concern over the state of minorities in the country in recent past.
Meanwhile, Naqvi also asserted that the Tablighi Jamaat followers constitute just a fraction of the Muslim population. “We can’t defame the entire community for the actions of Tablighi Jamaat followers,” he said.
“The police are on the case of Tablighi Jamaat chief Maulana Saad. He will be brought to book soon,” Naqvi said in the interview.
He said, “During partition, nine percent of the population was Muslim and today 22 per cent of the country’s population is Muslim. In this country, the religion, social, constitution rights of minorities are safe. While in countries like Pakistan, minorities are not safe.”
“Prior to the advent of the Modi government, the participation of minority communities in Central government jobs was about 4 percent. Whereas now the contribution of minorities is more than 10 per cent,” said the minister.
Under Modi’s regime, the drop out rate has reduced drastically among minorities especially in Muslims, Naqvi said.
Speaking about the government’s role during coronavirus pandemic, Naqvi said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had started the fight against coronavirus long before it arrived in the country. “On March 11, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared coronavirus a pandemic but the government had started taking measures in January itself,” he said.
“He launched evacuation programmes and ordered the setting-up of quarantine centers to keep the evacuees from various countries like Iran, Qatar, China, Saudi Arabia, and many more,” he said.
“As many as 41 crore people received money through DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer), while 15 kgs rice, wheat, and 5 kgs dal were provided to 80 crore people,” Naqvi said, spelling out relief steps undertaken by Centre to help the poor and the vulnerable communities tide over the crisis.
