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“Minority Rights Are Not Charity”: Owaisi Slams Kiren Rijiju Over Remarks on Muslim Benefits

Asad Owaisi
Photo: AIMIM

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday slammed Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju for claiming that minorities “benefit more” from government schemes than Hindus.

Rijiju had remarked, “Whatever Hindus get, minorities get too. But what minorities get, Hindus don’t,” triggering sharp criticism from opposition leaders and civil rights advocates.

Reacting strongly on X (formerly Twitter), Owaisi wrote, “You are a Minister of the Indian Republic, not a monarch. You occupy a constitutional office, not a throne. Minority rights are fundamental rights, not charity.”

He further questioned the minister’s claim, asking, “Is it a ‘benefit’ to be addressed as Pakistani, Bangladeshi, jihadi, or Rohingya every day? Is it ‘protection’ to be lynched? Is it protection that Indian citizens were abducted and forced into Bangladesh?”

Owaisi’s statement comes amid a growing climate of fear and alienation among minorities, particularly Muslims, over hate crimes, targeted demolitions, scholarship cuts, and increasing interference in religious institutions.

Owaisi sharply criticized the 2023 Waqf Amendment Act, which removed the requirement that Waqf Board members be Muslim.

“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,” he said.

The AIMIM chief also condemned the government’s discontinuation of the Maulana Azad National Fellowship and scholarships for Muslim students at the pre-matric, post-matric, and higher education levels.

He cited government data to underline the decline:

“Muslims are the only community whose participation in higher education has dropped. They are overrepresented in the informal sector and among the worst hit by recent economic policies.”

“Indian Muslims are the only group whose kids are now poorer than their parents or grandparents,” he added, stating that the community is not seeking charity but social, economic, and political justice.

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