Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi strongly criticised former Vice-President of India Hamid Ansari, for his comments during a panel discussion wherein he epxressed concerns regrding the state of democracy in India. Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi on Thursday, Mr. Naqvi said the "madness for Prime Minister Narendra Modi bashing is turning into a conspiracy for India bashing".
"If one gets into India bashing while bashing Modi, you can expect such voices. People who used to exploit minority votes are now anxious about the prevailing positive environment in the country," the Minister said. "Our cultural nationalism is our constitutional commitment," he added.
"Yesterday when the country was celebrating Repulic Day, and unfurled the tricolor at Srinagar's Lal Chowk, at that time, someone who occupied a constitutional post was speaking at a platform provided by an organisation that has worked against our country has a link to the ISI, to criticize the country," Mr. Naqvi said. He alleged that the Indian American Muslim Council was implicated even in the events in Tripura a few months ago.
Mr. Ansari, while participating in a online panel discussion, organised by the Indian American Muslim Council on Wednesday, had expressed concerns regarding the rise of Hindu nationalism in India. "In recent years, we have experienced the emergence of trends and practices that dispute the well-established principle of civic nationalism and interpose a new and imaginary practice of cultural nationalism. It wants to distinguish citizens on the basis of their faith, give vent to intolerance, insinuate otherness, and promote disquiet and insecurity," he is reported to have said.
