New Delhi
A video clip of the former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad in which he is speaking about the common ancestors of today’s Hindus and Muslims is going viral on the internet.
The video clip is part of his speech of August 9, 2023, that he made while addressing school children at a function in the village of Chiralla in the Doda District of Jammu and Kashmir.
The function was attended by a large number of Muslim notables.
In the video, Ghulam Nabi Azad said, "I have said this in the Parliament as well. It may not have reached you. In a discussion, when a BJP member was speaking about outsiders people who and natives, I told him that the issue of insider-outsider is irrelevant. Each one of us is from here. Islam emerged about 1,500 years ago, while Hinduism is ancient. It is possible that some Muslims may have come from outside - who served in the Mughal army – and then people in India converted from Hinduism to Islam.”
The video clip has been posted and reposted many times on X (formerly Twitter):
Big breaking .
— Aquib Mir (@aquibmir71) August 16, 2023
Hindu Religion is much older than Islam in India. Muslims in our country are because of Conversion from Hindus and in Kashmir all Muslims were converted from Kashmiri Pandits. Everybody is born in Hindu Dharma only. Azad
Retweet it. pic.twitter.com/NdgwUFYw1L
Ghulam Nabi Azad said, “A prime example is seen in Kashmir. Were there Muslims in Kashmir 600 years ago? They were all Kashmiri Pandits before converting to Islam. That's why I say that all are basically born in Hinduism. Keeping in mind the importance of this 9th August (August Kranti Divas) I feel that everyone - be it Hindu, Muslim, Rajput, Brahmin, Dalit, Kashmiri, or Gujjar, all are part of this motherland and we are working together to build this home. Will be together in this. This is our motherland. None of us has come from outside. Our roots are in this land, we were born in this soil and after death, we will return to this. Similarly, when our Hindu brothers die, they are cremated. And after the cremation, his family members also take his ashes to the rivers of this country.”
In August 2022, Ghulam Nabi Azad resigned from the political affairs committee of the Jammu and Kashmir state unit of the Congress. Within hours of being appointed to its committee, he refused to accept the position and left the party. Later Ghulam Nabi Azad formed his political party Democratic Progress Azad Party.
In 2023, Ghulam Nabi Azad was in the news for his continuous criticism of the top leadership of the Congress party, especially the Nehru-Gandhi family. In his autobiographical book, he included several detailed incidents pointing out the flaws in the Congress party and leadership. In response to his criticism, Congress leaders have called him a 'traitor' on several occasions.
