New Delhi, December 11 (IANS). Shehla Rashid, former president of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union, praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi while talking to news agency IANS on Wednesday. Shehla Rashid said that PM Modi is a fair administrator and if he brings any scheme then everyone gets the benefit of that scheme. He also said that PM Modi never promotes this, he never says that I have done this for Muslims.
In response to the question why Prime Minister Modi is different from other leaders, he said that PM Modi is a fair administrator. If he brings any scheme, be it housing scheme, currency scheme or any other scheme, everyone is getting its benefits. If you see the report of Sachar Committee, it was written in it that at that time there was Jawahar Scheme, in which Muslim women were discriminated against. But, today PM Modi has digitalized the entire interface. No officer is sitting for discrimination. Everyone can easily get the benefits of these schemes, that too without any discrimination.
Shehla Rashid said that the different thing about Prime Minister Modi is that PM Modi never publicizes this, he never says that I have done this for the Muslims. Whereas, he might have done it for them. According to PM Modi, there are only castes in the country, youth, women, farmers and poor. He (PM Modi) is developing only those who need it. But, he never talks about the fact that we have done this for the Muslims. They do not discuss this word, nor do they expect votes, nor do they ask for votes. He wants the Muslim society to stand on its own feet, develop itself and reform itself. If we look at world history, all the communities which have reformed, i.e. Christians, Hindus, all those who have reformed, have progressed. There was untouchability and Sati system among Hindus, it was abolished by Hindus. They also demand this reform from the Muslim community, no government will give you anything. You progress, India is a free country. You want to become a journalist, you can become a journalist. Want to become an actor, can become an actor. It all depends on your merit.
He said that some parties are deceiving us that unless someone from their family takes over as Prime Minister, we (Muslim community) cannot progress. We have seen how the Sachar Committee report shows how the Muslims remained most backward during the rule of a party which calls itself a secular party. Meaning, Muslims are left behind in many sectors even more than SC and ST communities. This does not mean that some government will come and will fix our situation or this government will give us something. We will have to do everything ourselves. We will have to make efforts for education on our own, we will have to give proper exposure to our children’s excellence, skills. This is what Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants. Reform yourself within yourself. He had given a message to the Muslims, don’t get involved in all this, we have to topple someone’s rule, build someone, support someone. Have confidence in yourself as to how far you progress educationally. I have also mentioned this thing in my book.
Shehla Rashid also said that the world is changing very fast. Nowadays artificial intelligence is coming. Nowadays many traditional jobs are coming, there is no scope left in them. We will have to give all those skills to our youth, explain and show many avenues. Where there is scope, we will have to think like this and as Indians, we will have to think about how to move forward ourselves and how to move the country forward.
When asked by IANS, ‘How did you suddenly become a fan of PM Modi?’, Shehla Rashid said that there is only one reason for this, that he has shown the dream of ‘developed India’ which he wants us to achieve. Reduce on that. I think that is a very secular thing and we should focus on development. We have many enemies, how much anti-India sentiment is there in China, Pakistan, Bangladesh. Rebels have come to power in Syria. Canada is becoming a Khalistan sentiment. All this will try to exploit our social divisions. Will try to exploit language, caste, region within our society. There is only one way for us to be ‘united’. We should keep our focus on building a ‘developed India’.
–IANS
SK/ABM
