Ghulam Nabi Azad says ‘Everyone was born a Hindu in India’

Mehbooba Mufti reacts “This is our home; We are not Visitors”

Ghulam Nabi Azad made a comment regarding the historical backdrop of faiths in India as he was speaking to a crowd in the Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir.

According to news source PTI, Ghulam Nabi Azad, the leader of the Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP), created a scandal when he claimed that the majority of Indian Muslims had converted from Hinduism. In his remarks to a crowd in the Doda area, the former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir made a comment concerning the cultural background of Indian religions. 

A BJP leader said that some Muslims had immigrated from abroad while others had not. Nobody from the outside or within has arrived. Islam was created only 1,500 years ago.

Hinduism is a very old religion. Ten to twenty of them (Muslims) must have come from outside; some of them served in the Mughal army. “In India, every other Muslim converted from Hinduism. Kashmir provides an illustration of this. Who lived in Kashmir 600 years were the Muslims? They were all Pandit Kashmiris. They became Muslims. Everyone is born into this religion, he said. Azad mentioned many groups and claimed that all of them had settled in India. “This is our home; we are not visitors. We were born on this soil, we will die here, he insisted. Hindus, according to Azad are cremated after passing away. They are burnt in different places. Their cremated remains are thrown into the river, which mixes the water, and we drink it,” he said.

“In a same way, the flesh and bones of Muslims get assimilated into the national soil. They also become a component of this country. Their flesh was assimilated into Bharat Mata’s soil. Hindus and Muslims coexist in this country. What makes them different from one another?he stated stated. 

Prior to the “invaders” bringing in other religions, the people used to practice Hinduism, according to senior BJP leader and former deputy chief minister Kavinder Gupta. He asserted that the timetable Azad provided for the introduction of Islam to India was accurate. In addition, Gupta claimed that learning Kashmir’s history will show that everyone in Kashmir was a Hindu 600 years ago, when there were no Muslims living there.

Mehbooba Mufti, the leader of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), poked fun at Azad, saying, “I don’t know how far back he went (in time) and what information he has about his ancestors. “I’d advise him to go way back and maybe he will find some apes there in the ancestors”. Manoj jha, a Rajya Sabha member and leader of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), said that “Humanity should take precedence over all other considerations, whether it be religion, borders, nationality or civilization".