Some Parties Running Campaign That India Unsafe For Minorities: Minister Kiren Rijiju

Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said on Monday that a campaign was being run in India and outside to project that minorities were not safe in the country and accused some parties and organisations of defaming the nation through overseas media.

Speaking at a programme of the BJP's Minority Morcha, he said minorities from neighbouring countries had found refuge in India over the decades, be it from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, and also referred to Tibetan refugees from China and pro-democracy activists from Myanmar.

If any disturbance occurs in the neighbourhood, everyone thinks India is safe and comes here, he said at the "Dr Kalam Startup Youth Award Ceremony" in memory of former president APJ Abdul Kalam.

"At such a time there are some parties and organisations in our country ... They go to western countries and use their media to defame (India) and say it is not safe for minorities," Mr Rijiju said, asking members of the morcha to strongly counter such a campaign.

This campaign is being run in a calculated and organised manner, he claimed.

The BJP leader also said there was no discrimination against minorities in India and everyone considered themselves a proud Indian.

He claimed that there might be six minority communities in India, according to the Constitution, but "practically, physically, technically, emotionally, socially" there were no minorities.

Everyone is equal and it is not that any community is made to feel weak because it is a minority community, he said.

Rijiju, a Buddhist, said he himself belonged to a minority community but never felt like one.

He said India's standing improved globally under the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and it was on course to become the third largest economy.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)