Narendra Modi government's religious agenda behind RBI 'no' to Islamic banking: Mirwaiz Umar Farooq

SRINAGAR: Moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq slammed the Narendra Modi government for not introducing the Islamic banking system in the country.

Expressing his vent against the Centre, Mirwaiz accused the government of not introducing the Islamic banking due to its politically motivated religious agenda.

The Hurriyat leader expressed his views on Twitter to hit out at the Modi government.

"Express regret at Govt of India’s rejection to introduce #IslamiBanking due to its politically motivated religious agenda.#Kashmir has been demanding Islamic banking for a long time to accrue of the benefits of banking as per Islamic law & in turn help the economic growth of J&K," he tweeted.

He also cited some IMF figures to criticise the government for not implementing Islamic banking in Jammu and Kashmir. Mirwaiz claimed that the J&K people have long demanded the introduction of such banking system.

"Govt blinded to the benefits that Islamic banking can bring to its people & overall economy.As per IMF,Islamic finance assets grew at a double-digit growth rate from $200 US billion in 2003 to $1.8 trillion at the end of 2013 that include non muslim countries China,Germany,UK &US," his another tweet said.

In a major move, the RBI decided not to pursue a proposal to introduce Islamic banking in the country.

Replying to an RTI query, the central bank said the decision was taken after considering the wider and equal opportunities available to all citizens to access banking and financial services.

Islamic or Sharia banking is a finance system based on the principles of not charging interest, which is prohibited under Islam.