Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has courted a controversy with his remarks at an event in Doda, wherein he said, “All Indian Muslims were Hindus first who converted to Islam later.”
The former Congress leader said, “Islam has come to our Hindustan only a few years back but Hinduism is very old. So 10-20 people must have come from outside in the army of Mughals and the rest all are converted from Hindus.” Referring to Kashmir, he said, “In Kashmir, all Muslims were converted from Kashmiri Pandits. Everybody is born in Hindu Dharma only.”
After having spent almost five decades in the Congress, 73-year-old Azad launched his own party – Democratic Azad Party – on 26 September last year. The former Congress leader has been criticising the grand old party ever since his resignation. When Rahul Gandhi assumed the role of the Congress vice president, Azad claimed the consultative framework was undermined during Rahul Gandhi’s tenure as vice-president and the experienced leaders were sidelined.