Rights, not privilege: Kanthapuram Aboobacker Musliyar on Minorities schemes

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Rights, not privilege: Kanthapuram Aboobacker Musliyar on Minorities schemes

Kanthapuram AP Aboobacker Musliyar also hailed the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 as a rare platform of all faiths and communities

Tuesday May 12, 2020 8:56 PM, ummid.com with inputs from IANS

Thiruvananthapuram: Kanthapuram A. P. Aboobacker Musliyar, the Grand Mufti of India and President of the Islamic Community of India, Tuesday refuted the notion that the Minorities welfare schemes in India are privilege.

"There is a problem in seeing reservation and scholarships as a privilege. Rather, such attempts are parts of minority rights in this country", Kanthapuram A. P. Aboobacker Musliyar told IANS.

Kanthapuram A. P. Aboobacker Musliyar was responding to IANS reporter who said despite the Union government ensuring safety and security of minority communities and extending certain privileges, such as scholarships and other financial aid, there's an attempt to misguide the Muslim youth.

On the question of what the reporter said "orchestrated move to misguide the youths", Kanthapuram A. P. Aboobacker Musliyar said, "I don't think that as a community, Muslim youths in this country can be misguided by anyone. Our historical experiences do not allow us to believe so."

'A unique experience'

Sheikh Aboobacker Musliyar also hailed the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019 as a rare platform of all faiths and communities and a unique experience in the history of India.

"As a responsible citizen of this country, I see the anti-CAA protests as a rare platform in the history of post-independent India where people from a variety of backgrounds, irrespective of their religion, caste, age and other backgrounds, came together to extend their support to uphold the democratic spirit and constitutional values of this country", Kanthapuram A. P. Aboobacker Musliyar, one of the countrys tallest Islamic scholars, said.

Are Muslims radicalised?

Kanthapuram A. P. Aboobacker Musliyar was responding to IANS reporter who asked his reaction on the assumptions in a section of India that the anti-CAA protest was led by what he called "radical youth".

"Basically, this question comes from an assumption that ant-CAA protests were carried out by a particular section of Muslims alone. It's not true", he said.

Protests erupted all across India and various parts of the world against the new Citizenship Act which granted citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Christians and others except Muslims living in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

'Take these protests seriously'

Those opposing the CAA 2019 said combined with National Register of Citizens (NRC) the new law will create huge problem for the Indian Muslims.

"It's true that CAA, which makes religion as criteria for citizenship in this country, may first and foremost affect Muslims. But in the protest against this Act, Muslims were not alone. In many parts of the country elected Chief Ministers led the protests against CAA. I personally had many opportunities to attend such protest gatherings in various parts of the country", he said.

"Many political observers opined that this was a unique experience in the history of our country. When I got an opportunity to interact with our Prime Minister and Home Minister in their offices in Delhi recently, I personally requested them to take these protests seriously and repeal the controversial provisions in CAA and NRC", Kanthapuram A. P. Aboobacker Musliyar.

In the same interview, Kanthapuram A. P. Aboobacker Musliyar, endorsed the concerns raised by Arab scholars and rights activists over rampant Islamophobic attacks against the Indian Muslims.

He also warned against calling Pakistan sponsored propaganda the genuine grievances of the community.

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