Bihar minister courts controversy; says 90 per cent Muslims in India are converted

Bihar PWD minister Ashok Chaudhury courted controversy while defending the Bihar government's Ramadan relief order. He said 90 per cent of the Muslims in India are converted and that Dalits converted to Islam due to the caste system as there is no untouchability among Muslims.

Nalanda: Bihar PWD minister Ashok Chaudhury on Sunday defended the government's Ramadan relief to Muslim staff, saying 90 per cent of the Muslims in India were converted. He said that Muslims have not come from London, America, or Afghanistan, but were originally Dalits, who got converted because of the Hindu caste hierarchy.

"Such relaxations have always been given to minorities. The BJP always keeps saying something or the other about Hindu-Muslim. No matter, what is done, BJP always looks for the Hindu-Muslim angle in all issues. Who are Muslims? They have not come from London or America. They have also not come from Afghanistan. Ninety per cent of the Muslims had got converted after being fed up by untouchability and caste system," Chaudhury said.

The Bihar government on Friday issued an order allowing Muslim employees to reach the office an hour early and leave an hour before their scheduled time during the month-long Ramadan, which is likely to start from March 23 or 24. The BJP had criticized the Nitish Kumar government over this decision and had alleged that the government was being run by those believing in the ideology of the Popular Front of India (PFI) outfit, which has been banned for five years for its alleged involvement in terror funding.

Chaudhury later clarified said that Dalits converted to Islam because untouchability does not exist among Muslims. BJP was unnecessarily creating a controversy over the issue, he alleged. Meanwhile, BJP has demanded that the order should be canceled and asked as to why a similar notification is not issued for Hindu employees during Navratri.