India has become flagbearer of inclusiveness, says Mukhtar Naqvi

Former Union cabinet minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Sunday said that India today has become the flagbearer of inclusive empowerment having crushed the "curse of communalism."

"The Modi-Yogi era has made Amar, Abdul, Antony an equal partner of prosperity by locking out and blocking the cartel of champions of castes and communities," Naqvi said.

He added that for decades Muslims are being "chewed like chewing gum" for votes and then left to fend for themselves.

Addressing the Minorities Rights Day programme, organised by the Uttar Pradesh Minorities Commission here, the senior BJP leader said that crooked politicians in the past worked according to a "cruel, communal, and criminal conspiracy" against the minorities to hijack their socio-economic and educational empowerment.

In a statement issued here, Naqvi said that the "treacherous traders of votes" are responsible for economic, educational, and social backwardness of some sections of the Muslim community.

He said that such people have now been made inconsequential as the Modi government has ensured prosperity and dignity of all sections without any discrimination. "The Modi Magic has replaced polarisation with politics of prosperity."

He said that both, majority and minority, communities have benefitted from governments led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

He said politicians who say that the development of minorities and the development of the country are separate from each other are doing a "criminal fraud."

Naqvi also criticised the findings in Sachar Committee – constituted under the first UPA government to understand the socio-economic status of Muslims – saying it was formed to scare the Muslims.

"The sham syndicate of secularism created confusion through the committee by claiming that the condition of the Muslims is worse than that of Dalits, tribals, and other backward sections.

"The truth is that the backwardness of Dalits is due to various historical and social reasons, while the poverty of the Muslims is the result of political deceit by some political parties," he said.

Naqvi said that a large number of beneficiaries of the welfare schemes of the Centre, UP government and all other BJP governments, belong to the minority communities.

Minorities are also getting equal benefits from the schemes related to electricity, roads, water, health, education, housing, employment, economic and social empowerment, he said.