PradoTLC
ELITE MEMBER
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2007
- Messages
- 8,888
- Reaction score
- -3
- Country
- Location
A SENIOR Indian minister has made an unusual claim about the well-being of Indian Muslims. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told a conference in Washington that Muslims couldn’t be doing as badly as is increasingly reported in the Western media.
The proof? Their population has increased since independence from British rule in 1947. It was a far-fetched argument to make before a foreign audience, ostensibly to counter adverse reports swirling about the targeting of Muslims.
A BBC documentary in particular recently riled the establishment into forcibly banishing the report from YouTube and other portals. The documentary cited a secret British assessment describing anti-Muslim pogroms in Gujarat in 2002, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the state’s chief minister.
The report held Mr Modi directly accountable for the attack on Muslims. However, the targeting of minorities has expanded geographically and in its intensity to include Christians and Dalits with Mr Modi’s ascent to power, a charge Ms Sitharaman struggled to contest.
The proof? Their population has increased since independence from British rule in 1947. It was a far-fetched argument to make before a foreign audience, ostensibly to counter adverse reports swirling about the targeting of Muslims.
A BBC documentary in particular recently riled the establishment into forcibly banishing the report from YouTube and other portals. The documentary cited a secret British assessment describing anti-Muslim pogroms in Gujarat in 2002, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the state’s chief minister.
The report held Mr Modi directly accountable for the attack on Muslims. However, the targeting of minorities has expanded geographically and in its intensity to include Christians and Dalits with Mr Modi’s ascent to power, a charge Ms Sitharaman struggled to contest.
Are Indian Muslims doing fine?
The Hindu right persists in expressing its misplaced apprehension on India becoming an Islamic country.
www.dawn.com