BJP spokesperson Savio Rodrigues has called on India’s football associations and Indians travelling to Qatar for the Fifa World Cup to ban the global event after the middle eastern nation invited fugitive Islam preacher Zakir Naik to deliver religious sermons at the event.
Naik, charged in India for money laundering and hate speech, has been living in exile in Malaysia since 2017.
Rodrigues on Tuesday said that Zakir Naik, a “terror sympathiser”, was being given a global platform to deliver sermons at a time when the world is fighting terrorism. "FIFA World Cup is a global event. People from all over the world come to witness this spectacular sport and also millions watch it on TV and the internet. Giving a platform to Zakir Naik, at a time when the world is fighting global terrorism, is to give a platform to a terrorist to spread his radicalism and hate," he said.
“Naik is no less than a terrorist himself," Rodrigues added.
Earlier Fifa presenter Faisal Aljahri tweeted: “Preacher Sheikh Zakir Naik is in Qatar during the World Cup and will give many religious lectures throughout the World Cup.”
INDIA’S BAN ON ZAKIR NAIK
The Centre had banned Zakir Naik’s Islamic Research Foundation on November 17, 2016, under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. The ban was extended by another five years in November 2021.
In its notification, the Ministry said that Naik’s organisation “has the potential of disrupting peace and communal harmony and disrupting the secular fabric of the country”.
Zakir Naik is accused of encouraging Muslim youths in India and other countries to commit acts of terrorism, following which the ban was imposed on IRF.
He is accused of spreading hate among different communities through his satellite television channel, Peace TV, and social media where he has 20 million followers.
Following the 2016 Dhaka bombing, Naik who was born in Mumbai fled the city and went to Malaysia where he still resides. On July 1, 2016, a bombing at a cafe in Bangladesh’s Dhaka had killed 20 people which included 17 foreigners.
The accusations against Naik of encouraging youths towards terrorist activities were raised after one of the bombers of the Dhaka blasts said that he was inspired by Naik.
Naik is also accused of illegally owning assets worth $28 million (over Rs 2 billion).
India has been in talks with Malaysia to extradite Naik but with no success so far. The National Investigation Agency and the Enforcement Directorate have filed multiple cases against Naik.
BAN BY OTHER NATIONS
Zakir Naik was forbidden from delivering speeches in Malaysia in 2019. He was banned from entering the UK in 2010. Other than these, his Peace TV network is banned inCanada, Bangladesh, the UK, and Sri Lanka.