<div>Prime Minister Narendra Modi says that his idea of secularism is “India first”, and that he doesn’t look at Indians in terms of Hindus and Muslims. Since his Gujarat days, however, there’ve been a number of apprehensions in Muslims regarding Modi. BJP’s Muslim face and <strong>junior minority affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi</strong> clears those apprehensions and reads out the Modi government’s balancesheet on Muslims, and other minorities, in the last one year, in an exclusive interview with <strong>BW|Businessworld's Suman K Jha</strong>.</div><div> </div><div><strong>Prime Minister says that he doesn’t view 125 crore Indians as Hindus and Muslims; he looks at them as Indians. So, what have the minorities got from the minority affairs ministry in the first year of Modi government?</strong></div><div>This government and the minority affairs ministry feel that if the funds spent by the Centre and the states for minorities’ upliftment and empowerment reach them, there would be no problems. If the money spent by the Centre and the state government for minorities had been spent properly, there would be no minority community member below poverty line today.</div><div> </div><div>The fundamental problem is that under other governments at the Centre, there was a loot lobby. It’s this loot lobby that ruled the roost in the last ten years (in the UPA regime).</div><div> </div><div>I have been touring the country and talking to minority community members. The problems is that 40 to 50 per cent of the people don’t even know that the government spends money on their education, infrastructure etc.</div><div> </div><div>We don’t believe in announcing new schemes. We believe in fully implementing the existing schemes and ensuring that the money reaches the target group.</div><div> </div><div>We are also trying to instil a sense of confidence in minorities.</div><div> </div><div>We will henceforth name new schemes on icons like Ashfaqulla, Amma Bi, George Joseph, Bhikaji Cama, Begum Hazrat Mahal – icons who sacrificed a lot. They should be the real rolemodels for the minorities.</div><div> </div><div>Haji Mastan, Dawood Ibrahim, Osama bin Laden and the likes must not be able to sway the new generation.<br><br><strong>There were a number of apprehensions, especially among Muslims, regarding Narendra Modi before he became the Prime Minister. Have they been addressed in the first year of Modi government?</strong></div><div> </div><div>The fear that was created among Muslims vis-à-vis Modi has dissipated in the first year of NDA rule. People including the minorities are now convinced that Modi means honesty and development. There is a new sense of confidence among Muslims now.</div><div> </div><div><strong>But BJP governments’ moves raise suspicions. Recently the BJP government in Maharashtra said that it would derecognize madarsas as educational institutions if they don’t teach English, Science and Maths…?</strong></div><div> </div><div>Madarsas are a reality in India. They should be linked to mainstream education. Unfortunately, the Congress made a Right to Education under which the madarsas are not regarded as educational institutions. This is why this confusion arose. A number of madarsas are doing very good work. We cannot say that the madarsas are doing any wrong education.</div><div> </div><div><strong>But should the Maharshtra government have desisted from taking such a step?</strong></div><div>I spoke to them. It’s only because of the Right to Education that this confusion happened. They have said that the madarsas teaching Science, Math will get government assistance.</div><div> </div><div><strong>BJP states are also banning beef. Some sections of the population have a problem with that and they are asking if the government has a right to question how we live and what we eat?</strong></div><div>These are minor issues. I don’t think there is any resentment in Muslims due to this.</div><div> </div><div><strong>But there are two views in the Cabinet too. Your own colleague Kiren Rijiju questioned your statement on this…</strong></div><div>This is one issue linked to people’s sentiments. We don’t look for scientific explanations here.</div><div> </div><div><strong>The Congress-led UPA government wanted an Equal Opportunities Commission, to provide a level playing field to everyone. Has the move been dumped?</strong></div><div>How can commissions ensure equal opportunity for everyone? Can we say that the Human Rights Commission and the Minorities Commission are able to do what is expected of them?</div><div> </div><div>Even then, we have not dumped the Equal Opportunities Commission move. We have sought views from various ministries and state governments and the consultation process is on.</div><div> </div><div><strong>In term of tangibles, what has been the Modi government’s biggest gift to the minorities?</strong></div><div>I won’t call it a gift; it’s their right. We can say proudly that we have freed the minorities of the loot lobby. We have ended the culture of power brokers and middlemen.</div><div> </div><div>One significant fact is that in the last one year not one single Muslim youth has been falsely implicated in a terrorism or anti-national case. There’s been a surge in self-confidence among Muslims.</div><div> </div><div><strong>One basic problem with the BJP is the lack of Muslim public representatives of the party. You don’t field Muslims in elections; among all BJP state governments, you have a Muslim minister in only one state…?</strong></div><div> </div><div>We are also striving to field greater number of Muslim candidates. This is also true that due to the misinformation campaign of our rivals, we don’t get much Muslim votes. I contested five elections; I got good number of Muslim votes. We may be getting 10 to 15 per cent Muslim votes but under Modi we got 24 per cent of Muslim votes.</div><div> </div><div>In the coming days, we will field greater number of Muslim candidates.</div><div> </div><div><strong>You were to tour the Muslim pockets through the country, and establish a dialogue with them. What happened to the project?</strong></div><div>I have covered 14 states so far. Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, West Bengal, Assam, Rajasthan, Haryana have been covered. After the Parliament session we will complete the entire country.</div><div> </div><div>In November or December, we will have in Delhi an Empowerment Conclave where Muslim representatives from all over the country will come and share their experiences.</div><div> </div>
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