Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said he sent an envoy to Israel amid its war with militant group Hamas in an attempt to stop the bombings in Gaza during the holy Islamic month of Ramzan.
In an interview with India Today, PM Modi revealed how he asked an envoy to convey to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to carry out bombings in Gaza during Ramzan.
"It was the month of Ramzan. So I sent my special envoy to Israel and asked him to convey and explain to the Prime Minister (Netanyahu) that at least do not carry out bombings in Gaza during Ramzan," PM Modi said.
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"They (Israel) made every effort to follow it but in the end, there was a fight for two-three days. Here you keep on cornering me on the Muslims issue but, I didn't publicise it," he said.
PM Modi said some other countries also tried to stop the Israel-Hamas war and added they may have got the results too. "I also tried," he added.
He also said that there was a fashion that if a leader goes to Israel, a visit to Palestine was a must. But, he added, he refused to do that.
On the question of the 'infiltrator' remark which he made in Rajasthan, PM Modi said he never indulged in Hindu-Muslim politics.
“I have never done Hindu-Muslim (politics) and will never do it. But if I say that triple talaq is wrong, then I am (labelled) ‘anti-Muslim’. If I’m labelled like this, then it is their (critics') compulsion, not mine,” he said.
During a public rally in Rajasthan, PM Modi hit out at the Congress party saying it is aiming to confiscate people’s gold and property and distribute it among infiltrators and those with more children.
However, PM Modi said that this attack was not against the minorities, and instead he was "targeting those political parties who are destroying India’s secularism, who are doing politics of appeasement, destroying the spirit of the Constitution.”
“You see the entire debate, from our side, we have not done ‘Hindu-Muslim’ anywhere. We are explaining to the people their (Congress) manifesto. I am explaining to the Muslims that they (Congress) are making a fool out of you for 75 years.” PM Modi added.