Bhopal: A bureaucrat in the Madhya Pradesh government on Sunday created a flutter by saying that he was scared of identifying himself by his name.
Mr Niyaz Khan, deputy secretary of the MP transport department, took to Twitter to express his fear on the safety of minorities..
In a series of posts, he indicated that he had been pondering over a new name for himself to conceal his Muslim identity, so that he could protect himself “from the sword of hate”.
“The new identity will save me from the violent crowd”, he said referring to growing incidents of mob lynching.
The babu said he was looking for a new name of himself to mention as author of his soon-to-be released book.
Mr Khan’s latest book, Tale of a Nocturnal Lover, a chapter in which devoted growing intolerance and incidents of mob lynching, was going to be released shortly.
He suggested to his fraternity in Bollywood to change their names to ensure that their productions did not fall victim of the ‘sword of hate’.
He said he could escape the fury of mobs by identifying himself with a fake name since his appearance did not make him look like a typical Muslim.
But, it was not the case of his brother.
“If my brother wears traditional clothes and has a beard, then he is most dangerous situation”, a Twitter post by him said.
Law minister P C Sharma slammed the babu for his comments, describing it a ‘publicity stunt’ to market his book.
BJP spokesman Rajneesh Agrawal described him a “professional pessimist who leads a good life, but has a penchant for promoting false insecurity among minority community”.
Mr Khan who has written five books had earlier stirred a row when he sought permission from the MP government to spend some days with underworld don Abu Salem in his cell in the jail to pen his book on the affair between him and Bollywood star Monica Bedi. The state government rejected his plea.
