 "Zakir Naik enjoyed NDA hospitality in J&K in 2003: Congress")
The Congress on Monday returned fire at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), alleging the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, in 2003, had entertained Islamic scholar Zakir Naik (pictured), whose role in the recent Dhaka terror attacks has come under scanner.
“Naik stayed in the Jammu & Kashmir Raj Bhavan, courtesy the NDA government in 2003, for three days. He was shown around the state and entertained,” Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said, asking, “Will the BJP explain that?”
Tewari, who held the information & broadcasting (I&B) portfolio during the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime, further said Peace TV, run by Naik from the United Arab Emirates, had applied for permission to downlink in India in 2008 and 2009 but was denied.
Responding to the charges of Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who said that, as former I&B minister, Tewari in the Lok Sabha in 2012 had named Naik’s Peace TV among 24 illegal foreign channels - whose contents were not conducive to India’s security - Tewari hit back, saying the Cabinet member was not correct with his facts.
According to Tewari, in a reply to Parliament, the then UPA government had said that around 24 channels were downlinking content in illegal manner and some of them were under the scanner of security agencies. “The ministry did not name any particular channel,” said Tewari, adding, “Illegal manner means the channels are violating the programming code.”
Recalling an incident, Tewari further said that former Minority Affairs Minister K Rahman Khan had written to him about Naik being targeted by some news channels and it was examined by the government according to procedure.
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Congress communication chief Randeep Surjewala said the NDA government had all the documents but was leaking information selectively to the media to gain cheap publicity. “Why has the government not taken any action against Peace TV channel in the past two years?” Surjewala queried.
After it emerged that Rohan Imtiaz, one of the terrorists in the attack on Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka in July, was inspired by controversial Islamic preacher Naik, government sources had said, “The matter would have to be examined further”, before deciding whether any action against him was warranted.
Naik, in turn, had said he had condemned the terror attacks, saying he had no shady role. BJP alleged Naik’s NGO donated Rs 51 lakh to the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust, which, the Congress said, was voluntary and has since been returned.