By : TNM Staff
Three weeks after his speech where he alleged that Muslims will be given India’s wealth if Congress came to power, incumbent Prime Minister and BJP leader Narendra Modi claimed innocence in a media interview to News18 on Tuesday, May 14. In fact, he denied ever mentioning Muslims on stage, despite videos of his speech clearly calling Muslims infiltrators and ‘people who birth too many kids’ being watched millions of times. The idea that Muslims produce more children with the aim of outnumbering Hindus in India is a conspiracy theory popular among Hindu nationalists.
To interviewer Rubika Liyaquat’s question of why it was necessary for him to use terms like ‘infiltrators’ and ‘people who have too many kids’ when referring to Muslims on stage, Modi took a sudden, affected melodramatic tone to say, “I’m shocked! Who said that when I mention people with too many kids it refers only to Muslims? Why are you doing injustice to Muslims?”
“In our place, poor families are also in such a state,” he continued, “They’re unable to educate their children, no matter which community they’re from. Where there is poverty, there are more children.”
When the interviewer followed up with whether his mention of Muslims was different from his mention of people with many kids, Modi falsely claimed, “I neither said Hindu, nor Muslim. I only said, you should only have as many kids as you can take care of. Don’t bring it to a stage where the government has to care for them.”
“The day I do Hindu-Muslim, I will not be eligible to continue in public life,” he declared, “I will not do Hindu-Muslim, this is my commitment.”
This story was originally published in thenewsminute.com. Read the full story here.
