Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman
On questions asked to PM Modi during his US visit regarding the treatment of Muslims in India and his response to them during a news conference held, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman defended PM Modi and criticised the Opposition and US Former President Barack Obama.
She criticised the former US President for his statements on Indian Muslims because the US had “bombed six Muslim-majority nations” under his rule and accused the Congress and other opposition parties of raising “non-issues, without data” in response to electoral setbacks.
“The Honourable Prime Minister himself, in the press conference in the US, has said how his government works on the ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ principle and doesn’t discriminate against any community. But the fact remains that when people join in this debate and highlight issues which are non-issues in a way,” said Finance Minister.
Out of the 13 awards that he has been given as Prime Minister of the country, six have been given by countries where Muslims are in the majority,” she said.
“There are issues to be raised which are being raised at the state level about law and order. There are people taking care of it. To just allege without basic data in hand just tells us that these are organised campaigns,” said Nirmala Sitharaman
Slamming the opposition, she said, “I think because they can’t counter the BJP or PM Modi electorally – the Karnataka election result notwithstanding – that is why they are running these campaigns. And the Congress has had a big role in this in the past few elections.”
Talking about Mr Obama’s interview with CNN, in which he said he would like to raise subject of Indian Muslims with PM Modi, Finance Minister lashed, “I was shocked. When PM Modi was campaigning in the US – and by campaigning I mean speaking about India – a former President of the US is speaking about Indian Muslims.”
“And I am saying this with restraint because it involves another country. We want friendship with the US but there too we get remarks about religious freedom in India. A former President – under whose rule six Muslim-majority countries were bombed with more than 26,000 bombs – how will people trust his allegations?” she said.
Quoting Opposition’s continuos setbacks in electoral elections the minister said, “I find this deliberate attempt to vitiate the atmosphere in this country because they think they cannot win against the developmental policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”
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