In an interview to news channel CNN-IBN, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that he was confident that the al-Qaeda’s plan to set up a unit for the sub-continent would fail as Indian Muslims would never accept the terror group’s philosophy.
The Islamic State had already spread its root when al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri tried to misguide the Indian youth by announcing its expansion policy by setting up an Indian wing of the militant organization.
Although the government sounded a nationwide alert and did (and is dong) everything to stop the youth from fleeing the country and joining the militia, the Prime Minister was nowhere in sight.
Well, he has finally spoken.
In an interview to news channel CNN-IBN, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that he was confident that the al-Qaeda’s plan to set up a unit for the sub-continent would fail as Indian Muslims would never accept the terror group’s philosophy.
“My understanding is that they are doing injustice towards the Muslims of our country. If anyone thinks Indian Muslims will dance to their tune, they are delusional. Indian Muslims will live for India, they will die for India – they will not want anything bad for India,” he is learnt to have told the channel.
Reportedly, he was also put a question about the remarkable phenomenon that out of the 170 million Muslims in India, there seemed to be no or very few members of al-Qaeda even though it is in Afghanistan and Pakistan. “What is it that has made this community not as susceptible?” asked Farid Zakaria, who interviewed the Prime Minister.
The PM answered that first he was not the authority for doing a psychological and religious analysis on this. “But the question is whether or not humanity should be defended in the world. Whether or not believers in humanity should unite. This is a crisis against humanity, not a crisis against one country or one race. So we have to frame this as a fight between humanity and inhumanity, nothing else,” he said.
This is in tandem with the policy that PM Modi has been practicing which keeps him away from making any political or religious comment on the Muslim community in particular. When he embarked on the journey to the 7 Race Course road, he became exceptionally diplomatic.
While on his campaign trail, he took some bold and serious steps to increase their faith in him which had been depleted after the 2002 Gujarat riots. First course, obviously, was his Sadbhavana fast where he tried to do penance for the riots although never accepting that he was involved somehow.
The clean chit from the court came as icing on the cake and the timing of the ruling was impeccable.
While it is no doubt that the BJP was able to achieve a landslide victory only because some of the Muslim community vote deflected and came towards Modi from his anti-party. But the bypoll slide, especially after the ‘Love Jihad’ cry of the BJP and allies, has once again posed a problem for him and his government.
The interview, which comes after the al-Qaeda alert and before his US visit, and which will be telecasted on Sunday evening, is set to woo the community once again. The time is a little late but it may repair the damage by boosting the confidence of the Indian Muslims.
