In an embarrassment to the Narendra Modi-led central government, Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Wednesday said that minorities in India sometimes feel like second-class citizens.
“India is a model country for minority rights — look around in the neighbourhood and you will know… Although the Constitution guarantees equal rights, there is a deficiency in the feeling of that equality; sometimes we feel like second class citizens. The real issues often get buried,” Naqvi said while delivering the annual lecture of the National Commission of Minorities.
Later on, he clarified that he made the remarks in the context of vote-bank politics and that it was not a commentary on the social conditions of the minorities.
"But our government has succeeded in addressing this over the past two years," he hastily added.
Underlining the need for peace and amity between communities, Naqvi said that it would be ideal if cases taken up by NCM do not have to be related to riots.
He also asserted that Indian Muslims do not need certificate of patriotism from anybody.
“We are committed to no riots. Indian Muslims do not need certificates of patriotism from anybody — they are the reason why radical organisations have not been able to make inroads in India,” he said.
Peter Ronald deSouza, professor at the Centre for Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), pointed out during his address that when it comes to resolving demands of minorities in vibrant democracies, India can show the way to the world despite the state’s attitude having been wanting on many occasions.
“As the world struggles with working out the moral, legal and social terms of the majority-minority relationship, India’s engagement with this question since the last 70 years constitutes a valuable global intellectual resource,” he said.
