‘Over 2000 cases of violence against Hindus, other minorities in Bangladesh’
Mr Singh also told the Lok Sabha in a written reply that 112 cases of violence against minorities were reported in Pakistan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday dismissed claims of discrimination towards religious minorities in India.
In a response to British daily Financial Times, he noted that there is a whole ecosystem which is levelling these allegations against his government by using the freedom available in the country.
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“There is a whole ecosystem that is using the freedom available in our country to hurl these allegations at us every day, through editorials, TV channels, social media, videos, tweets, etc,” Modi told the Financial Times (FT).
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The prime minister also highlighted the Parsi community, a micro-minority in India, saying their success shows that there is no discrimination towards any religious minority in India.
“Despite facing persecution elsewhere in the world, they have found a safe haven in India, living happily and prospering,” Modi said, adding this shows that the Indian society itself has no feeling of discrimination towards any religious minority.
The prime minister also cited the long history of outsiders, including the British, who underestimated India.
“In 1947, when India became independent, the British who left made many dire predictions about India’s future. But we have seen that those predictions and preconceptions have all been proven false,” he said and added his government will also prove similar perceptions wrong.
‘Confident of victory in 2024’
Modi said his fellow citizens have come to realise that the country is poised for a giant leap and want their aspirations to take wings at the earliest.
He said Indians now appreciate and acknowledge that the country is on the cusp of “take-off” and want “this flight to be expedited”.
“Today, the people of India have very different aspirations from the ones they had 10 years ago,” the prime minister said in the interview, adding, “They realise that our nation is on the cusp of a take-off. They want this flight to be expedited, and they know the best party to ensure this is the one which brought them this far.”
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