NEW DELHI, Sept 16: India on Monday strongly condemned comments made by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the condition of the Indian Muslims and said the remarks were “unacceptable.”
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) also urged the Iranian leader to “look at their own record” before commenting on India. In a statement, the MEA expressed disapproval of the remarks, which it described as lacking an understanding of the situation in India. “We strongly deplore the comments made regarding minorities in India by the Supreme Leader of Iran. These are misinformed and unacceptable,” the MEA said.
Khamenei had clubbed Indian Muslims with those in Gaza, talking about the sufferings in Myanmar, Gaza or India. “We strongly deplore the comments made regarding minorities in India by the Supreme Leader of Iran,” the foreign ministry has said in a statement. “These are misinformed and unacceptable. Countries commenting on minorities are advised to look at their own record before making any observations about others,” New Delhi has added.
“We cannot consider ourselves to be Muslims if we are oblivious to the suffering that a Muslim is enduring in #Myanmar, #Gaza, #India, or any other place,” the Iranian leader had said in his post on X. “The enemies of Islam have always tried to make us indifferent with regard to our shared identity as an Islamic Ummah,” he had added.
Earlier on Monday, Ali Khamenei commented on the “suffering” of Muslims in Gaza, and Myanmar in a message promoting global Muslim solidarity. In the same message on Prophet Mohammed’s birth anniversary, he also mentioned India. In his statement posted on X, Khamenei did not provide specific reasons for mentioning India’s Muslim minority.
(Manas Dasgupta)