New Delhi: Union minister of State for Law and Justice Satya Pal Singh Baghel has said that there are very few tolerant Muslims, and even those who appear to be tolerant use it as “a mask”. The minister in the Modi cabinet has said that Muslims do this, only in order to be in public life and become Governors and Vice Presidents.
“Tolerant Muslims can be counted on fingers. Their numbers are not even in thousands. Even that is a tactic. It is to stay in public life with a mask. This route then leads to the house of the Governor and Vice President or Vice Chancellor. But when they retire from there, they begin to speak their mind,” the minister said during an RSS event.
Awards named ‘Dev Rishi Narad Patrakar Samman’ were given out at the function organised by ‘Indraprastha Vishwa Samvad Kendra’ (the publicity wing of RSS-Delhi) at New Maharashtra Sadan in the city.
Baghel went onto say that the basic structure of India was Hindu Rashtra.
“People keep talking about the Constitution’s basic structure and how it cannot be tinkered with. The basic structure of this nation is that of Akhand Bharat Hindu Rashtra before 1192. I have never agreed with (Ram Manohar) Lohia ji’s views that Ghouri and Ghaznavi were looters while Akbar, Dara Shukoh and Razia Sultan are our ancestors. The Delhi sultanate was run based on Shariat. It was a hardline regime,” said Baghel, in his address as chief guest at the annual Narad Patrakar Samman Samaroh organised at Maharashtra Sadan here, as reported by The Indian Express.
Information Commissioner Uday Mahurkar too spoke at the event and said that India must embrace figures like Mughal emperor Akbar, even while battling Islamic fundamentalism, as Akbar was ‘tolerant’. But Baghel, reports the newspaper, dismissed Akbar’s religious tolerance as tactics.
“Akbar understood that this is a nation of majority Hindus. He knew that he could not rule Akhand Bharat by hurting religious sentiments. But this was a strategy. It did not come from the heart. If Akbar was really secular, the massacre of Chittorgarh would not have happened. Din-e-Ilahi and Sulah-e-Kul were also part of a strategy as was inclusion of Hindus among the Navratnas. His marriage [to Jodhabai] was also a political marriage. When he died, his last words were ‘Ya Allah!’,” Baghel said.
The Hindu reports that Union minister Baghel said communalism a bigger problem for India than corruption.
RSS publicity in-charge Narendra Thakur, also shared his views, “Media should not show too much negative news. It must put positive news on its front pages. When you are writing you must also think whether the time is right to write whatever you are writing. Journalism should be in the interest of society and the nation.”