Indians who celebrated the Pakistan cricket team’s victory in the recently concluded ICC Champions trophy final should leave the country or “be deported”, Ghayorul Hasan Rizvi, the newly appointed chairman of the National Commission for Minorities, quipped on Tuesday.
Rizvi’s comment came as a response to journalists about reports of celebrations in parts of India after Pakistan won the cricket match on Sunday. When questioned why he was getting involved in the issue of who supports whom in a match, Rizvi told The Indian Express:
I was asked a question. There were three things I could have done. I could have said ‘no comments’, I could have supported those people who live in India but root for Pakistan, or I could have criticised it. I did the last because that is my opinion. It is not as if the commission is taking this matter up at any level.
The remark, predictably, raised many eyebrows. Coupled with the fact that many people have been arrested on sedition charges after allegedly celebrating Pakistan’s victory, Rizvi’s remarks have drawn flak. What it has also done is pique curiosity about the newly elected chairman.
Who Is Ghayorul Hasan Rizvi?
Syed Ghayorul Hasan Rizvi, a social activist from Uttar Pradesh, has a long association with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Apart from serving in the BJP Minority Morcha, Rizvi has also worked for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Lok Sabha campaign in Varanasi.
The commission has in the past usually been headed either by retired bureaucrats or retired judges. Rizvi’s appointment, therefore, came as a bit of a departure from the long-held tradition. When questioned about the fact that none of the members in the commission this year have served in the judiciary or the administration, Rizvi said that it would not affect the panel’s functioning.
He said they had served in the social sector, and were well aware of ground realities.
Not the First Time He Has Courted Controversy
Tuesday’s episode is not the first time the chairman has courted controversy.
Rizvi came under attack from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad last week over the issue of starting a helpline number for Muslims. The right-wing outfit alleged that Rizvi was strengthening the “feeling of separatism in the Muslim community”.
Reacting to the outfit’s observation, Rizvi had retaliated, saying that the panel is set up to redress complaints of all the minority communities and not those of Muslims alone.
Rizvi on Kashmiri Pandits and Triple Talaq
On 13 June, Rizvi had made his views clear about Kashmiri Pandits in the country, asserting that they should be accorded minority status. “If the definition of minorities has to be re-looked at, it is my opinion that Kashmiri Pandits should be the first people to be accorded that status,” he told The Indian Express.
He added that he plans to take up the issue with the Centre.
Early in June, the then newly-appointed chairman had said that “triple talaq in one go is wrong and the practice should be banned”, according to a Hindustan Times report.
Rizvi’s Views on Gau Rakshaks
When asked about gau rakshaks in the country, Rizvi had said in an interview that “those who lynch people in the name of ‘gau rakshaks’ are hard criminals out to defame the government and terrorise minorities.”
In another interview, the chairman had said that politicisation of issues on the basis of religion is wrong and condemnable.
‘We Will Bridge Trust Deficit Between Government and Minorities’: Rizvi
After taking the reigns of the commission, Rizvi had asserted that the organisation would bridge the trust deficit between the government and minorities in the country. In June, Rizvi had said that there has been a lot of misconceptions about the Modi government’s approach to minorities.
“People do not know that maximum schemes for Muslims have been launched by the Central government,” Hindustan Times had quoted Rizvi as saying.
Commenting on the “atmosphere of fear” among minorities, Rizvi had said that the commission’s job would be to ensure a “sense of security amongst minorities that their fundamental rights are secured.”
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