JK News Today
Jammu, April 11: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman , currently on US visit, has slammed the reports and perception that Muslims were at receiving end in India , and asked, “ will Muslim population be growing than what it was in 1947?”
She was replying to a question on the impact of negative western perceptions of India , posed by president of the US think tank, Peterson Institute for International Economics Adam S. Posen in Washington D C on Monday.
Nirmala Sitharaman said “ “India has the second-largest Muslim population in the world, and that population is only growing in numbers. If there is a perception, or if there’s a reality, that their lives are difficult or made difficult with the support of the state, which is what is implied in most of these write-ups, I would ask, will the Muslim population be growing than what it was in 1947?”
This was a reflection of the ground reality of India at the moment , and she reinforced this point by comparing the things with Pakistan , a state founded on the basis of religion. She said : Every minority community in Pakistan is dwindling — decimated to use the harsher word — in numbers. Violence even prevails against Muhajirs, Shia and every other group you can name which is not accepted by the mainstream. I don’t know, Sunnis probably.”
She stated that the notion that across the board in India, violence against Muslims is happening, is a fallacy. “It cannot be so. Each province and its police are different. They are run by the elected governments in those provinces. So, that itself tells you how these reports have no clue of the law and order systems in India,”
