Minority rights in the country are limited to West Bengal, claimed mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Firhad Hakim today. Mr Hakim was speaking during a symposium organised by the West Bengal Minorities’ Commission on the occasion of World Minority Rights Day. According to the mayor, the condition of minorities in the state is much better than other states because at many places in India, there is no guarantee of the lives of the minorities. “What people will eat, how they would dress up, whether mikes would be used at places of worship or not, are decided by the state governments.

There are restrictions on how people would practice their religion. But as far as Bengal is considered, here the state is number one in social-economic development in India. If the common people and the minorities are not a part of it, how is it that the GDP of the state is at the top in the country?” said Mr Hakim. Without naming anyone, the mayor alleged that slowly and gradually the federal structure of the states is being damaged and efforts are being made to govern the country by one party.

Underscoring that minority rights are protected in states including West Bengal and Kerala, Mr Hakim claimed that the states are being reduced only to work on municipal affairs and all the control is under one power. “Along with everything, the minority rights have also been robbed off,” alleged the minister for urban development and municipal affairs department of the state. The mayor asserted that the rights of minorities in the world and in every part of the country should be protected. “We should protest against such things. We have to be aware of our minority rights and human rights. The rights of minorities in Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh should be protected alike,” said Mr Hakim. Echoing Mr Hakim, state disaster management and civil defence department minister Javed Ahmed Khan, urged the leaders of the minority communities to work more in their respective areas.

Emphasizing on the rights of the protection of minority rights in terms of language, chairman of the West Bengal Minorities’ Commission, Ahmed Hassan, said, “Any other language should not be imposed on minority communities. Hindi is a very beautiful language and is spoken in many parts of the country. But because of that, imposing it on everyone forcefully would mean the rights of speaking other languages like Tamil and Malayalam being taken away. The Indian system of giving respect to all languages should be followed and not imposed forcefully