Guwahati: The attempts of Assam Governor P.B. Acharya to clarify his remarks of Saturday stoked the controversy after he said that “Muslims in India are free to go anywhere... If they want to go to Pakistan, Bangladesh, they are free to go.”
He had been quoted as saying on Saturday that “Hindustan is for Hindus. There is nothing wrong with that. Hindus from different countries can stay here. They cannot be outsiders.”
Mr Acharya, while clarifying his remark that Hindustan is for Hindus, said that any Indian-origin people persecuted in Bangladesh or anywhere else in the world have a legitimate right to return to India for shelter. “I didn’t mean Hindustan is for Hindus only, persecuted Hindus anywhere have a right to seek shelter here,” he said.
When asked if Muslims persecuted in Bangladesh are also welcome, he said, “Why not? Taslima Nasreen has come to India... Originally Bangladesh was part of India and the people were Indian. But during Partition a large number of Indian Muslims went to Pakistan.”
Reiterating that India remains the world’s most tolerant nation, Mr Acharya, however, said that if any Muslim in India feels he is being persecuted, he is free to go to Pakistan, or for that matter to any country in the world, for shelter.
In an obvious attempt to clarify his controversial remarks, which invited criticism, Mr Acharya warned of forces inimical to India’s development and called upon people to discourage such elements from taking centre-stage.
“There may be a few elements with an international agenda who are trying to derail the entire process. They also intend to see that the Northeast remains a troubled zone,” Mr Acharya said, though he declined to name the forces “inimical” to the interests of Assam and the Northeast. “These elements should not be entertained,” he said.
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