Vice-president under fire for 'Muslims unease in India' comment

However, Hamid Ansari also advises Muslim community to move on with the times

India’s vice-president  has been getting fire from a number of leaders belonging to the ruling Modi-led Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) over his comments that Muslims in the country feel “unease, a sense of insecurity,” reported Times of India.

Hamid Ansari while giving an interview to Rajya Sabha TV when asked if the recent lynching and violence by cow vigilantes made the country’s Muslim community apprehensive, he replied that Muslims are afraid.

"Yes, it is a correct assessment. From all I hear from different quarters, the country. I heard the same thing in Bengaluru, I have heard from other parts of the country, I hear more about in north India. There is a feeling of unease, a sense of insecurity is creeping in," answered Ansari, according to IANS.



But the 80-year-old outgoing vice-president also advised the Muslim community to move on with the times and live with the current requirements of the ‘occasion’.

"Do not create for one self or one's fellow beings an imaginary situation which is centuries back, when things were very different. I mean the whole idea was that what are the challenges today... The challenges today are challenges of development, what are the requirements for development; you keep up with the times, educate yourself, and compete...," he said.

After the interview, some BJP leaders have taken to oppose Ansari’s comments. "[There is] no better country than India for Muslims and no better friend than Hindus," said BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain.

That comment didn't go down with Priti Gandhi either, who's a national executive member of the party, in a tweet, asked Ansari if he feels uneasy despite her "Hindu majority nation" placing him "at the pinnacle of power" for 10 years.

For 10yrs my Hindu majority nation accepted you with open arms, placed you at the pinnacle of power & you still feel uneasy? Agenda kya hai? https://t.co/Z8pzWddTG0

— Priti Gandhi (@MrsGandhi) August 9, 2017

Ansari also spoke a lot about the functioning of Rajya Sabha, Africans in India, and his relationship with the two presidents and the two PMs he saw during his 10-year reign.

When he was asked if he conveyed his apprehensions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said he had but didn't divulge any details. "Yes.. yes. But what passes between the vice-president and the prime minister in the nature of things must remain in the domain of privileged conversation," Ansari added.