The Minority Affairs minister, elevated to the Cabinet rank yesterday, reiterated that the government would focus on the empowerment of minority communities by providing them with education and employment opportunities.
Minister of state for Minority Affairs, Virendra Kumar, who accompanied Naqvi, said the Centre would ensure empowerment "sans appeasement".
"There is no atmosphere of fear prevailing in the country among minorities. Rather, there is an atmosphere of trust among them," Naqvi told reporters here.
Naqvi said the minorities had full faith in the government for the work it was doing for their "uplift".
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"You have seen they blamed EVMs when they lost (assembly) polls (in Uttar Pradesh and other states), when demonetisation happened and now again when the council of ministers has been re-jigged," he said in a veiled attack on the opposition.
On the issue of triple talaq, Naqvi said the practice of instant divorce was a social ill at variance with the principle of gender equality as mentioned in the Constitution.
The apex court had on August 22 banned the 1,400 year-old practice of instant 'triple talaq' among Sunni Muslims and set it aside on several grounds including that it was against the basic tenets of the Quran.
Naqvi reiterated that the government believed in empowering the poor and minorities with "dignity" and that welfare schemes were being implemented for them.
On his part, Kumar lauded the initiatives taken by the ministry till now, particularly those relating to skill development among minorities.
"The opposition is scattered and is not in a position to challenge Modiji. That's why such allegations," he added.