The Janata Dal (United) on Tuesday backed Vice President Hamid Ansari’s comments on minorities, saying they are being targetted by the present NDA regime.
“The minorities are being targetted since this government assumed power. There is discrimination on the basis of religion, because they are either Muslims or Christians. They are debarred from representation and this has been told by Justice Rangnath Mishra also,”JD (U) leader Ali Anwar told ANI. “And this has been pointed out by the vice president academically since he is an academician,” he added.
Anwar further said that the Rajinder Sachar committee has already given its report about the condition of minorities in the country and what should be done for them, but nothing has happened.
“Various reports of different committees have asserted that there are backward Muslims and Christians too. They are also citizens of this country, and the committee talked about their equal opportunity, but nothing has been done,” he added.
The Hindutva organisation said such a demand seeks to “push Muslims in dark alleys of dissatisfaction whose consequences will be dangerous”. “With due respect to the Vice-President’s chair, the VHP condemns this rank communal statement. This is a political statement which does not befit the office of a Vice-President,” VHP’s Surendra Jain said.
Jain said Indian Muslims enjoy more constitutional rights than they do in many Muslim countries, claiming that they have been appeased by various means over the years. He said Ansari should apologise for his “unfortunate” statement.
On Monday while delivering an inaugural address at the “Golden Jubilee Session of All India Muslim Majlis-e- Mushawarat”, Vice President Ansari said “Muslims were an integral part of the freedom struggle against the British rule. They are dispersed all over the country, are not homogenous in linguistic and socio-economic terms and reflect in good measure the diversities that characterise the people of India as a whole”.
