New Delhi: Days after AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal asked Muslims to avoid travel during the Ram Temple inauguration period, National Commission for Minorities Chairman Iqbal Singh Lalpura Wednesday said all minorities are safe in the country and there is no need for anyone to be scared.
Ajmal on January 6 had asked Muslims to avoid travel during the period coinciding with the Ram Temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya to avoid 'any untoward incident'.
Addressing a meeting in Assam's Barpeta, the Dhubri MP had asked the Muslim population 'not to travel' from January 20 to 25, when the consecration ceremony will take place.
Asked about Ajmal's remarks, Lalpura said at a press interaction that all minorities are safe in this country.
"We can testify that no one needs to be scared. This is our country and everyone, he or she may be from any religion, is safe here. There is no reason that we should be scared or for this reason not travel. We should stay in the country unitedly," he asserted.
Lalpura said India is the only country in the world where minorities are the most secure and are given the maximum opportunity to move forward.
"When the census was conducted in 1991, the number of minorities was 16 per cent, but when the census was conducted in 2011, the percentage of minorities was 21," he said.
Whereas whether it is Bangladesh or Pakistan, the number of minorities is continuously decreasing there, he pointed out.
Published 10 January 2024, 17:24 IST