'Our religion taught us ...' Farooq Abdullah responds to PM Modi's Mangalsutra jibe

‘Our religion taught us …’ Farooq Abdullah responds to PM Modi’s Mangalsutra jibe

NEW DELHI: National Conference president Farooq Abdullah on Tuesday condemned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘mangalsutra’ jibe and said that Islam teaches respect for all religions and does not condone looking down upon other faiths.

He asserted that a true Muslim would never snatch the mangalsutra of a Hindu woman.

Abdullah expressed his disappointment over the Prime Minister’s remarks, stating, “our religion never taught us to look down upon other religions, instead always taught us to respect other religions. If a person snatches the ‘mangalsutra’ he is not a Muslim and does not understand Islam.”

“It will never happen that a Muslim will snatch the mangalsutra of a (Hindu) mother or sister. (If anyone does), he is not a Muslim. He does not understand Islam then,” he added.

Former J&k chief minister’s response comes a day after PM Modi said that Congress’s manifesto suggests taking ‘the gold of mothers and sisters’ and redistribution of wealth with ‘people with more children’ and ‘infiltrators’.

During a rally in Rajasthan’s Banswara on Sunday, PM Modi alleged that the Congress’ manifesto includes a plan to calculate the gold possessed by mothers and sisters and distribute that property, questioning to whom they would distribute it. He also claimed that the Manmohan Singh government had stated that Muslims have the first right on the country’s assets.

“Their Mangalsutra, the question is not of the cost of gold in it, it is linked to her dreams of her life. You are talking of snatching it in your manifesto…will distribute gold and redistribute. When it was their government, they had said that Muslims have the first right over the country’s wealth. Who will you distribute after collecting the wealth, distribute it to those who have more children, and distribute it to infiltrators,” PM Modi said.

Farooq Abdullah reiterated that Islam does not advocate disrespect for any religion, saying, “Islam teaches me that if you kill one person, mind it, you have killed humanity. I am also a Muslim and the Quran does not teach me to hate Hindus. I love Hindus as much as I love Sikhs and Muslims. I feel when they will progress, we will also progress and this nation will also progress.”

Meanwhile, Communist Party of India (Marxist) has also lodged a police complaint against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his remarks.

According to Brinda Karat, the PM’s speech violated Indian laws against inciting communal violence and hate speech. However, Karat expressed frustration that her complaint was initially refused at a local police station, forcing her to send it directly to the Police Commissioner of Delhi.

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