I did not take oath to work for development of Muslims only: Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi

New Delhi: Former Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi is a known Muslim face in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He recently resigned from the post of Union Minister of Minority Affairs as his Rajya Sabha term ended. Political circles are abuzz with speculations that the resignation would turn into his promotion as he may be made the BJP-led NDA's Vice Presidential candidate or he may be given the responsibility of Jammu and Kashmir in the capacity of the Lieutenant Governor. 

Naqvi, who has spared 47 years of his life in politics, recently told a Hindi newspaper that he was unaware of either being made NDA's Vice Presidential candidate or being given the responsibility of Jammu and Kashmir. 

Former Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has been thrice elected to the Rajya Sabha and was involved in social and political life since the early age of 17. He told Dainik Bhaskar that as the Union Minister of Minority Affairs, he did a lot for the betterment of minorities in the country. He especially mentioned that the nature of the ministry was earlier a Muslim Ministry, but now it includes not only Muslims, but also Christians, Parsis, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs. He also took pride in saying that the ministry worked with dignity and shed the earlier practice of appeasement, adding that no one can allege that the Modi government discriminated against anyone. 

Nupur Sharma's controversial statement

On the controversial statement of former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, Naqvi said the BJP government has neither witnessed riots like Bhagalpur, Bhiwandi, and Godhra nor seen any major terror incidents in the country. The opposition parties are not able to digest these facts, the reason, they have been making stories of award returns, intolerance, and lynching since the BJP Modi govt was formed. There are some fringe elements also in the country who want to spoil the atmosphere of peace, harmony, and development.

According to him, "Communal violence should not happen anywhere. The intention and policy to control them should be right. People are now questioning bulldozers, but are shying away from pointing at rioters. Those who are issuing threats are enemies of humanity as well as Islam, which can not be Taliban or Al Qaeda." 

On the allegation that the government has shied away from taking strict action against Nupur Sharma, he said that the agency, and police are doing their work according to the law, adding "If the agency is doing something wrong, there are courts, and we should not do politics over it."

Muslim representation

Responding to the question that Muslims constitute about 16% of the population, but there is no representation of the community in the Modi government after his exit,  Naqvi said that he did not take oath that he will work for the development of Muslims only. All the ministers have constitutionally taken a pledge to work for the development of all sections of society.

The BJP-led government's policy and intention have been of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Prayas'. So far, Muslim society has been exploited politically and deliberately kept away from political empowerment. Prime Minister Modi has given houses to 3.31 crore people under the housing scheme, and of these 31 per cent were given to minorities. The share of minorities in Kisan Samman Nidhi is also 35 per cent, while 35 per cent got the benefit under Mudra Yojana. "When we did not discriminate in development then why should any community discriminate in voting for us," he added.

When asked that non-representation of the largest minority population of the country in politics would have a negative effect, he pooh-poohed the idea and said, "If someone does not become an MP or MLA, he will not become a terrorist. Such thinking would again be an attempt to cut a section of society from the mainstream of development." 

He asked the political parties that get the majority of Muslim votes as to how much representation they give to minorities. Naqvi also took potshots at the idea of the BJP not giving tickets to Muslims in elections, and said that he contested 5 times on the BJP ticket, but lost 4 times and won only once. "I have worked in the party at different levels. BJP has given more than 350 tickets to Muslims in elections across the country for Parliament as well as Assembly polls. The party, however, tries to give representation to Muslim leaders, who failed to win, through the legislature.