Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind chief Mahmood Madani on Friday rejected the foreign narrative regarding “genocide” of Muslims in India.
In an interview with news agency ANI, Madani underlined that a lot could have been done against the Muslim community in the country following the Pahalgam attack
He credited the government and the civil society for foiling what he called the conspiracy of the terrorists. He added that the people will also understand the true motive of the enemies who want chaos and conflict in the country.
“Time and again, there is talk–especially outside India–that there will be a genocide of Muslims. This is said quite often, even to me personally, but I am not willing to believe it. After what the terrorists did in Pahalgam, a lot could have easily happened. At least some unrest could have taken place. But it didn’t,” Madani said.
“This wasn’t solely the work of the government–though I won’t deny that the government deserves some. But more importantly, it was civil society that truly deserved the credit. And now that this conspiracy has understood other conspiracies–that our enemy wanted conflict,” he added.
Madani endorsed India’s stance of not engaging with Pakistan, especially since they had a hand in the terror attacks on India.
“For many years we adopted the policy of engagement with Pakistan, but we did not get any benefit from it…There is nothing objectionable in the policy of disengagement with Pakistan that the government has now adopted…We did not achieve anything when we were engaging with Pakistan…,” he said.
‘PM, Oppn Lowering Political Discourse’
Madani took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the opposition, asserting that the standards of political language and discourse have gone down in recent years. He criticised political leaders across the spectrum, including the PM, opposition parties, and state leaders, for using “inappropriate” and “offensive language”.
“The standard has gone down, even the PM Modi speaks in inappropriate language for communities, and the opposition has also lowered the bar,” he said.
Madani singled out Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, saying his language is “so offensive”. He is the guardian of the state…but the kind of language he is using is inappropriate… Yes, we disagree with each other, but through your platform, I urge him to use the right words while speaking…On various issues, our differences may decrease,” said the Islamic scholar.
He added that differences in political and social views were natural in a democracy but insisted that this should not lead to “hatred” or “animosity”. “We can have differences of opinion, but we are not enemies,” he said.
