Owaisi: Indian minorities treated as hostages, not citizens

AhlulBayt News Agency: Owaisi strongly rejected the statement, saying that India’s minorities are not even treated as second-class citizens, but rather as "hostages."

In a post on X, Owaisi wrote: “India’s minorities are not even second-class citizens anymore. We are hostages.” He reminded Rijiju that he is a constitutional minister, not a monarch, and that minority rights are not a favor but fundamental constitutional guarantees.

Owaisi questioned what kind of “benefit” it is to be labeled every day as “jihadi,” “Pakistani,” “Bangladeshi,” or “Rohingya,” and asked if it’s “protection” when Muslims are lynched, their homes and places of worship bulldozed, and their communities pushed to the margins politically, socially, and economically. He pointed out the growing invisibility of Muslims in public life and the rise of hate speech even from high offices.

You are a Minister of the Indian Republic, not a monarch. @KirenRijiju You hold a constitutional post, not a throne. Minority rights are fundamental rights, not charity.

Is it a “benefit” to be called Pakistani, Bangladeshi, jihadi, or Rohingya every single day? Is it… https://t.co/G1dgmvj6Gl

— Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) July 7, 2025

He further criticized the government's actions, such as scrapping the Maulana Azad National Fellowship, slashing pre-matric and post-matric scholarships for minorities, and passing the Waqf Amendment Act that allows non-Muslims to dominate Waqf Boards—while Muslims have no say in Hindu Endowment Boards.

According to Owaisi, Muslims are the only community whose participation in higher education has declined. Their reliance on the informal economy has increased, and they’ve been disproportionately harmed by economic policies. Data from the government itself, he claimed, shows that Muslim children now have fewer opportunities than previous generations.

“We are not asking for special treatment or to be compared with minorities in other countries,” Owaisi concluded. “We are simply demanding the justice—social, economic, and political—that the Indian Constitution guarantees.”