Ahmedabad, Jan 17: Pakistani cleric Maulana Tahrul Qadri visited Gujarat in February last year as a guest of Narendra Modi govt, reports Hindustan Times.
Qadri, a known authority on Islamic sprictures and law, has also good knowledge of Hindu scriptures and quoted Gita during his televised speeches here a year ago, says the report.
His visit was marked by a two-hour-long telegvised speech in February 2012 on the essence of Gita and the Koran.
Qadri's advice to Gujarati Muslims to shed their "sense of victimhood" riled many, with leaders of the prominent Jamiat-ul-Ulema organisation accused him of "praising the killer of Muslims" and "calling Muslims terrorists", the HT report says.
Finally, he had to clarify that he "had stressed that no such unfortunate events like riots should repeat and those who perpetrated should face the law."
BJP leader Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, now a minister in the Modi cabinet, was at the event.
He said Qadri advocated social and communal harmony and denounced Jihadi extremism. Chudasama described him as "soft-spoken".
