‘Minister, not monarch': Asaduddin Owaisi slams Kiren Rijiju over ‘minority benefit more' remark

Mint

6 days ago

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on July 7 slammed Union Minister Kiren Rijiju for the latter's comments, saying that India is the only country where the minorities get 'more benefits and protections' than the majority community.
The Hyderabad MP countered Rijiju's remarks given to a newspaper by claiming that India's minorities are not even second-class citizens anymore and are, in fact, 'hostages.'
"You are a Minister of the Indian Republic, not a monarch Kiren Rijiju. You hold a constitutional post, not a throne. Minority rights are fundamental rights, not charity," Owaisi wrote in a post on X, quoting Rijiju, who had shared his interview with the Indian Express.
'INDIA is the only country where the minorities get more benefits and protections than the majority community,' Rijiju wrote in the post sharing the interview.
Owaisi asked if it was a 'benefit' to be called Pakistani, Bangladeshi, jihadi, or Rohingya every single day? 'Is it 'protection' to be lynched? Is it protection that Indian citizens were kidnapped and pushed into Bangladesh?,' the AIMIM chief asked.
Rijiju said in the interview that in the last 11 years, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government has championed the principle of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas'. Following this principle, he said, the Ministry of Minority Affairs has adopted the mantra of 'bhagidari se bhagyodaya (participation to good fortune)' to a result-oriented and empowerment-driven framework focused on education, skilling, entrepreneurship, and inclusion.
'The approach has ensured that minority communities are active and equal participants in India's growth story. The main point we have to understand is that minority communities are receiving more funds and support from the government than the majority community, the Hindus. Whatever the Hindus get, the minorities also do. But what the minorities get, the Hindus don't,' Rijiju told the newspaper.
Owaisi reacted by asking, if it was an 'honour' "to be the target of hate speeches from no less than the Prime Minister of India?'
'India's minorities are not even second-class citizens anymore. We are hostages. If you want to talk about 'favours', answer this: can Muslims be members of Hindu Endowment Boards? No. But your Waqf Amendment Act forces non-Muslims onto Waqf Boards — and allows them to form a majority,' Owaisi said.
Muslims, Owaisi said, are now the only group whose numbers have fallen in higher education. Their presence in the informal economy has gone up. They have been among the worst-hit by your economic policies, he said, adding 'this is your own govt's data.'
You are a Minister of the Indian Republic, not a monarch Kiren Rijiju. Minority rights are fundamental rights, not charity.
Indian Muslims are the only group whose children are now worse off than their parents or grandparents, the Hyderabad MP said. 'Intergenerational mobility has reversed. Muslim-concentrated areas are the ones most starved of public infrastructure and basic services,' he said.