Yoga guru and religious leader-cum-businessman Baba Ramdev is not new to making controversial statements against Muslims and other minorities in India. In his latest tirade against the increasingly marginalised communities in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dispensation, Ramdev has claimed that Muslims abduct Hindu women.

At a recent Hindu religious event in Rajasthan’s Barmer district, Ramdev even called Muslims “terrorists, hardened criminals.” The event was organised in the name of Shri Dharm Puri Maharaj. “Ask any Muslim what his religion preaches. He will tell you that you offer five times Namaz and then do whatever you like - be it abducting a Hindu woman or committing any evil (paap),” claimed the controversial Yoga guru.

“They think that the meaning of Islam is Namaz and some of our Muslim brothers commit heinous crimes. But they definitely offer Namaz because this is what they have been taught i.e. offer Namaz and do whatever you want. They become terrorists, and turn into hardened criminals but offer Namaz… This is not how Hinduism operates. Christians go to church, light candles, and stand before the idol of Jesus Christ to rid themselves of sins,” Ramdev ranted.

As the video of his speeches went viral on social media, several people slammed the yoga guru and asked the Rajasthan government to book him for the hate speeches. Shaukat Ali, President of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen’s Uttar Pradesh unit, asked the Rajasthan Congress whether they would file a case against him. “Such objectionable speeches against Islam are made by sadhu-sants who are the jokers of the Bharatiya Janata Party,” he said.

Another AIMIM leader and party’s national spokesperson, Waris Pathan, slammed Ramdev calling him a “fugitive” who ran away wearing salwar kameez (outfit meant for ladies). He said that Ramdev does not know anything about Islam. “If he knew what Islam really is he would have embraced Islam,” Pathan said.

Qasim Rasul Ilyas, national president of the Welfare Party of India, urged Rajasthan Chief Minister, Ashok Gehlot, to take action against Ramdev forthwith. He said Ramdev should be booked for insulting Islam and Christianity. Rajya Sabha MP and Chairman of Congress’s minority department, Imran Pratapgarhi, condemned Ramdev’s remarks calling them “objectionable”.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-INP