Page 2 - Minorities

Never spoken against minorities, will not accept any special citizens: Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said he has never uttered a word against minorities, and the BJP has not just today but never acted against them. He, however, made it clear that he is not ready to accept anyone as "special citizens". The comments in an interview to PTI Videos late Sunday is Modi's most unequivocal on minorities amid an outcry from the opposition that his election speeches are communally divisive and polarising. He also said the Congress has constantly violated the secular spirit of the Constitution, and that his campaign speeches are aimed at exposing the opposition parties' bid to appease minorities with vote bank politics. In the interview, he was asked what he has to say about the apprehension among minorities because of his statements. I have not spoken a word against minorities. I am only talking against the vote bank politics of Congress. Congress is working against the Constitution, that's what I have been saying," he replied. Modi said the makers of India'

Congress wanted to allocate 15% of budget to minorities, says PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday alleged the Congress during its previous rule wanted to allocate 15 per cent of the government budget for minorities and vowed not to allow splitting of budget or reservation in jobs and education on the basis of religion. Addressing an election rally at Pimpalgaon Baswant in north Maharashtra's Nashik district in support of Mahayuti candidates -- Union minister Bharati Pawar (BJP) and Hemant Godse (Shiv Sena) -- the PM said splitting budget on religious lines was dangerous. The BJP's star campaigner maintained Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, the chief architect of the Constitution, was firmly against religion-based reservation in jobs and education. Modi claimed the Congress, when in power at the Centre, had drawn up plans to allocate 15 per cent of the total budget to minorities. "When I was the chief minister (of Gujarat), the Congress had brought up this proposal. The BJP opposed this move strongly and hence it could not be implemented. But ..

Share of Hindu population shrunk 7.8%, Muslim share up 43% in India: Study

Barring Parsis and Jains, share of all other religious minorities surged between 1950 and 2015

LS polls: BJP refuses to mention minorities' in its manifesto, says Owaisi

Alleging that the BJP has hatred towards minorities, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said the saffron party even refused to mention the word "minorities" in its manifesto, instead saying it as "marginalised". Owaisis said AIMIM's alliance in Uttar Pradesh with Anupriya Patel's Apna Dal (K) will continue even in the Assembly polls and the party will support Prakash Ambedkar in Akola and Anand Ambedkar in Amaravati in Maharashtra. "I have seen the BJP's advertisement on April 17 in various newspapers. Please see when they talk about giving loans or help to start a business from the government, it says ST and OBC. The BJP is even refusing to mention word minorities forget about Muslims. The word minorities is mentioned in the Constitution of India and the BJP has a great hatred for the word M," Owaisi told PTI videos on Wednesday. "They have not mentioned the word minorities. They say scholarships will be given to marginalised communities," he said. He claimed that there are highest numb

Myanmar military, ethnic groups agreed to immediate cease-fire: China

Myanmar's military has reached a cease-fire agreement with an alliance of ethnic minority guerrilla groups it has been battling in the north, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Friday. The agreement was brokered at talks mediated by China on Wednesday and Thursday in Kunming, a Chinese provincial capital about 400 kilometers (250 miles) from the border with Myanmar, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said. China hopes the relevant parties in Myanmar can conscientiously implement the agreement, exercise maximum restraint toward each other and solve the issues through dialogue and consultations, she said at a daily briefing in Beijing. Myanmar has been wracked by violence that began after the army ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021. An alliance of three armed groups launched an offensive against the military in October and took control of Laukkaing, a key city on the border with China, last week. China is concerned about the rising violence and

CM Patnaik sanctions Rs 45 cr to build community centres for minorities

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday approved Rs 45 crore for constructing 150 multi-purpose community centres for preserving the culture and heritage of the people belonging to minority communities in the state. The construction of multi-purpose cultural-cum-community centres will be taken up in 22 districts, he said. An amount of Rs 45 crore has been sanctioned for setting up these centres, he said. These facilities will serve Christians, Muslims, Buddhists and Sikhs. This initiative will go a long way towards the creation of space for the minority communities to undertake various community-based activities in the multi-purpose centres, the chief minister said. The announcement about the assistance for these community centres comes after 'Nabin Odisha' and '5T' transformational initiative chairman V K Pandian met the members of Cuttack Oriya Baptist Church, Church of Christ (Union Church), Bhubaneswar and BJD Minority Cell on Monday. '5T' refers to teamwork, technolo

Cong fulfilling Jinnah's vision: Himanta on Telangana minority declaration'

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday lashed out at the Congress for its minority declaration' in poll-bound Telangana, claiming that the party is fulfilling the vision of Mohammad Ali Jinnah's Muslim League. In an apparent reference to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi without naming him, the BJP leader alleged that those who have appropriated the Gandhi surname have revived the policies of Jinnah. The Congress' Minority Declaration released on Thursday said that if the party comes to power in Telangana, it would ensure fair reservation for all backward classes including, minorities in jobs, education and government schemes. In a series of posts of X, Sarma wrote: In my long political career I could have never imagined that Cong will stoop so low in their attempt to capture the vote bank of one religion. By coming up with religion specific manifestos, Cong is fulfilling the vision of Mohammed Ali Jinnah's Muslim League. Sharing a screenshot of Telangana Pradesh Congress

Legal system often played key role in perpetuating historical wrongs: CJI

Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud has said that unfortunately the legal system has often played a "pivotal role" in perpetuating "historical wrongs" against marginalised social groups and the harm caused by this can persist for generations. Chandrachud delivered the keynote address at the Sixth International Conference on the Unfinished Legacy of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar' at the Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, on Sunday. In his address titled Reformation Beyond Representation: The Social Life of the Constitution in Remedying Historical Wrongs', Chandrachud said that throughout history, marginalised social groups have been subjected to horrendous, egregious wrongs, often stemming from prejudice, discrimination and unequal power dynamics. From the brutal transatlantic slave trade that forcibly uprooted millions of Africans, the Native American displacement, caste inequalities in India affecting millions of backward castes to the oppression of indigenous Adivasi communities

BJP to start 'Sadbhavna Yatra' in December to connect with minorities

Through this journey, the Minority Morcha aims to bridge the gap between the Muslim community and the BJP and work towards greater Muslim community participation in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections

NIA raids 8 locations in J-K terror conspiracy hatched to target minorities

According to the case, the terror outfits used the cyber-space to target minorities, security personnel and spread communal disharmony in Jammu and Kashmir

Pak police form special unit for security of minorities, religious places

Amid increasing attacks on religious minorities in Pakistan, the Islamabad Police on Thursday constituted a 70-member special unit for the "protection of minority places of worship and communities" in the national capital. "Seventy jawans (policemen) have been posted in the Minority Protection Unit'," the Islamabad Police said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. It said all district police officers will be responsible for the protection of minority places of worship and communities in their areas. The unit, established as per the recommendations of the National Minorities Commission, will perform its duties under the supervision of SSP operations. "Liaison with minority committees will be strengthened at each divisional level, the police added. It further stated that the unit policemen have also been selected from the recent recruitment for the Minority Protection Unit. The move comes a day after an enraged mob ransacked and torched 21 churches and several houses of Christ

Missteps in Manipur may introduce dangerous dynamics in NE politics

Any demand for a separate ethnic state for the Zo people carved out of India, Myanmar and Bangladesh could rapidly worsen the security situation in India's northeast

Govt goes into pantomime mode to assuage foreign critics

Political observers will do their own math to explain what might have led to such an unusual alignment of political correctness

Left, Congress instilling fear among minorities on UCC: Chandrasekhar

UCC is a common set of laws dealing with marriage, inheritance adoption and other matters and not based on religion

Minorities more safe, secure in India than in US: ex-VP Venkaiah Naidu

Secularism is in the blood of Indian people, former vice president Venkaiah Naidu has said, asserting that minorities are more safe and secure in India than in many countries including in the US. Naidu, 74, addressed a gathering of Indian Americans at a reception hosted in his honour by the National Council of Asian Indian Associations in the Greater Washington DC area on Monday. All propaganda is going on (against India). Certain sections of the Western media also. They joined this propaganda about India, about the security and safety of minorities. I want to tell those people that minorities are more safe and secure in India than here, he said. You see what's happening in India and what's happening in other countries. But, you know, discrimination is going on, he said. Naidu has been in the US for the last few days. Over the weekend, he addressed a gathering of Indian American doctors in Philadelphia. He said India respects its minorities. Those who wanted to go to Pakistan hav

'Minority communities benefitted most from welfare schemes under Modi govt'

Bharatiya Janata Party's minority cell national general secretary Sufi M K Chishty has claimed Muslims and people from other minority communities benefitted the most from welfare schemes during the last nine years of the Narendra Modi government. Addressing a rally in Bhiwandi town of Maharashtra's Thane district on Saturday to highlight works done by the Modi government, Chishty also criticised the Congress, claiming it only gave assurances to the people during its 50 years of governance but did not do any work on the ground. Chishty said Muslims and people from other minority communities benefited from various schemes of the Modi government, including those for providing housing, health benefits and pertaining to the welfare of farmers. "Till 2014, only 4.5 per cent Muslims were government employees, and the figure has gone up to 10.5 per cent in the last nine years," he said. The BJP and the Modi government do not indulge in differentiation of people on the basis of caste, creed

Welfare programmes for minorities to be resumed: Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah

A delegation of the Central Council of the Minority Muslim Thinkers, Chavadi, of Karnataka State met him on Friday and discussed various issues, said the government

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Democracy is in our veins, no discrimination against minorities: PM Modi

Asserting that democracy is "in our spirit...and flows in our veins", Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said there is no question of discrimination in India on the grounds of caste or religion because his government follows the Constitution, which is formed on the basic values of democracy. Responding to a question at a joint press conference with US President Joe Biden after their comprehensive deliberations, Modi also strongly defended India's record on democracy and his government's performance and human rights, saying that the basic foundation stone of his government has been 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas and Sabka Prayas' which means together for everyone's growth, with everyone's trust. "India is a democracy. And as President Biden said democracy is in the DNA of both India and America. Democracy is in our spirit. Democracy flows in our veins. We live democracy. Our forefathers moulded it in words, which we call the Constitution. Our government runs on the ...

Crime within Palestinian minority reaches new heights under Netanyahu govt

A relentless wave of violent crime within Israel's Palestinian minority is turning cities and towns into bloody battlefields, exasperating a community feeling increasingly forsaken by Israeli authorities. Anger over the mounting insecurity is directed at Israel's government and its ultranationalist minister in charge of police, Itamar Ben-Gvir. Critics say that with his history of anti-Arab rhetoric, he cannot be trusted to combat the rising scourge. The skyrocketing violence lays bare the deep inequities in Israeli society, with Arabs facing years of discrimination that activists say laid the groundwork for the unabating bloodshed. More than 100 people have been killed in violent crime in Arab communities this year, nearly three times higher than at the same time last year, according to the Abraham Initiatives, a group that promotes Jewish-Arab coexistence and safe communities. It also is more than three times the murder rate in the majority Jewish sector, according to official ..