New Delhi: Days after RJD national general secretary Abdul Bari Siddiqui said that he wanted his children to settle abroad due to the "atmosphere in the country," the Union Minister of State for Home, Nityanand Rai on Monday reacted to Siddiqui's remark and said that "all minority groups" were secure in the country "more than anywhere else in the world," despite opposition parties claiming that this was not the case due to "appeasement politics," reported news agency PTI.
On Friday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Janata Dal (United) attacked Abdul Bari Siddiqui for his remarks about the "desh ka mahaul" (situation in the country) and for "advising his children to settle abroad."
Abdul Bari Siddiqui said in a video, "my son is studying at Harvard. And my daughter is studying in London. The kind of situation in the country, which has emerged, I just told my children - find jobs abroad."
"All minority groups, including the one which Siddiqui is hinting at, are safe in the country. They are safer than anywhere else in the world. I say this with all the responsibility at my command as the Union MoS for Home", said Rai, who formerly headed the BJP’s Bihar unit.
Rai was of the opinion that minorities were being threatened by parties like the RJD and Congress, which were allies of RJD, "to get sympathy of certain sections of the society for electoral gains."
The term for this is "politics of appeasement." According to the Union minister, "this is called the politics of appeasement. It is this politics of appeasement that had caused Partition of the country," when asked if he thought Mahatma Gandhi was also guilty of appeasement politics. "not Gandhi ji, but those who went on to rule Pakistan and the truncated India were pursuing such politics in their respective pursuit of power," the minister claimed.
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He also accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of undermining the armed forces during speeches delivered as part of the "Bharat Jodo Yatra" and claimed "hostile neighbours like China and Pakistan have realized that this is not the India of 1960s. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the helm, no power would dare to go to war with us. Even if a war takes place, the outcome is going to be in India’s favour".
Training his guns at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who was a BJP ally until snapping of ties in August, Rai said "we learn that he is going take out another yatra. These gimmicks confirm that his governance track record has been miserable".
The BJP leader stated, "all sectors in which there has been any improvement, happened to be portfolios held by our party," when it was pointed out that his party has long been an ally of Kumar, the de facto leader of the JD(U). On Kumar, the party used lavish praise for bringing about development in Bihar.
In the wake of the Saran Hooch tragedy, the Union minister also mocked Kumar's quip about "piyoge to maroge" and criticized Kumar for making a fuss about the NHRC investigating the incident.
Rai also said that Kumar has been soft on "anti-national activities going on in Bihar." To support his claim, he used the example of Kashmir being mentioned as a separate country on a school exam question paper.
"He should read a few poems of Atal ji. He will learn what the leader stood for," Rai said, mocking the JD(U) leader for repeatedly stating that the BJP had deviated from the inclusiveness exemplified by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
(With PTI Inputs)