India deplores Iran leader's remarks on Muslims: ‘Misinformed, unacceptable’
This is not the first time Khamenei has posted on social media about the status of India’s Muslim minority or other matters related to India
India on Monday dismissed comments by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on the “suffering” of Muslims in India, Gaza and Myanmar, describing them “misinformed and unacceptable” while referring to the Iranian government’s treatment of minorities.
Khamenei’s comments were part of a message posted on X, calling for solidarity among Muslims around the world on the occasion of Prophet Mohammed’s birth anniversary. It gave no details about why he had specifically referred to India’s Muslim minority.
Hours later, the external affairs ministry denounced the Iranian leader’s remarks. “We strongly deplore the comments made regarding minorities in India by the Supreme Leader of Iran,” the ministry 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,” the statement added.
In his post on X, Khamenei said: “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.”
He added, “The enemies of Islam have always tried to make us indifferent with regard to our shared identity as an Islamic Ummah.”
In a separate post on X that had no reference to India, Khamenei again raised the issue of the “oppressed people of Gaza and Palestine”. He said that achieving the “important goal of upholding the Islamic Ummah’s honor can only be realized through unity”.
He added, “Today, it is definitely our duty to support the oppressed people of Gaza and Palestine. Anyone who neglects this duty will surely be questioned by God.”
India and Iran have close ties and there have been no major irritants in bilateral ties in recent months. India currently has a major stake in the strategic Iranian port of Chabahar, where an Indian state-run company operates a terminal.
The Indian side sent vice president Jagdeep Dhankhar to attend an official ceremony to pay condolences following the death of former Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi and former foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in May. Union minister Nitin Gadkari attended the swearing-in ceremony of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in Tehran in July.
This is not the first time Khamenei has posted on social media about the status of India’s Muslim minority or other matters related to India.
In August 2019, Khamenei reacted to the Indian government’s decision to scrap the special status of Jammu and Kashmir by expressing concern about the situation of Muslims in a post on Twitter.
“We’re concerned about Muslims’ situation in #Kashmir. We have good relations with India, but we expect the Indian government to adopt a just policy towards the noble people of Kashmir and prevent the oppression & bullying of Muslims in this region,” he had said in his post.
Khamenei contended the situation in Kashmir and disputes between India and Pakistan regarding the region were a “result of the vicious British government’s measures while leaving the Indian subcontinent”.
In March 2020, Khamenei said in another post on Twitter that “Muslims all over the world are grieving over” the status of the minority community in India. He had then said The government of India should take steps to “prevent India’s isolation from the world of Islam”.
