In indirect praise for Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind’s general secretary Maulana Mahmood Madani on Saturday said more riots have occurred in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh than in Gujarat. The number of Muslim youths in the jails of Maharashtra and Rajasthan exceed those in Gujarat, he added.
“In the past 10 years (since the 2002 Gujarat riots), more than 48 communal clashes have occurred in Rajasthan, while 102 have been reported in the past one-and-a-half years in Uttar Pradesh. Please tell me, who is right and who is wrongIJ,” Madani, indirectly lauding Narendra Modi, told Rajat Sharma on his show “Aap Ki Adalat” on India TV.
“I don’t say any such thing in private or in public to show that I support Modi. But if I compare Gujarat with Maharashtra and Rajasthan, then people will say I support Modi,” he said. “More Muslim youths are in the jails of Maharashtra and Rajasthan than in Gujarat,” he said. Noting that “there are two lines of thinking in India — one inclusive, the other divisive”, Madani said: “We expect from the Congress to promote inclusive thinking, but unfortunately, some of their leaders have created such a situation that they appear to be divisive.”