NEW DELHI, July 19: India is a secular nation and minorities are safest in this country, Union minister Kiren Rijiju has said, asserting that minorities are enjoying absolute freedom and protection because of the Hindu majority.
In an interview with news agency, the Minority Affairs Minister said he has not come across a single case where a member of the minority community is willing to migrate out of India because of being deprived of anything in the country.
He accused "the Left ecosystem backed by the Congress party" of running a relentless campaign that minorities are being "tortured, butchered, lynched and killed, and are not safe in India".
He said such narratives were not helping the country. Asked about his predecessor Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi's statement when he was the minister that India is heaven for minorities, Rijiju said India is a country where "people are law abiding, we are secular, we have a Constitution", and so, whether in majority or minority, everybody is the same.
Whether one belongs to a minority or a majority community, everybody is equal before the law, he asserted.
"Now, having said that I can clearly make this statement that whatever the majority community gets, the minority communities also get that but there are certain things which minorities get but the majority community do not get," Rijiju told PTI on Friday at the news agency's headquarters here.
"If you see the history in brief, there were some problems in Tibet due to the Chinese occupation and the Tibetans came to India. There were some democratic movements and problems in Myanmar and the democratic activists came to India. There were some problems in Sri Lanka, the Lankan Tamils came to India. There was persecution of minorities in Bangladesh, they all came to India. From Pakistan, Afghanistan (many came to India)," the senior BJP leader said.
"Ultimately, they all desire to take shelter in India because they have the confidence in the Constitution of India and the people of India. That is why they come here," he said.
He said barring isolated incidents and the riots when the Congress was in power, generally, "minorities are safest in India". (PTI) |
