Hitting back at Trinamool Congress MP Jawahar Sircar for raising questions over the appointment of Smriti Irani as the Minority Affairs Minister, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday said that he hopes one can free the mind from the shackles of “pseudo-secularism and appeasement politics”.
Objecting to Irani’s appointment, Sircar tweeted, “Irani assigned the charge of Ministry of Minority Affairs after Naqvi resigned. Hardcore Hindu, who is married to a Parsi, given charge of Muslims, Christians. Is this BJP’s brand of secularism?” The Law Minister promptly responded and said, “Muslims and Christians? I hope one can free the mind from the shackles of pseudo-secularism and appeasement politics. Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jains, and Parsis have been notified as minority communities under Section 2 (c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992.”
Irani, Union Women and Child Development Minister, took additional charge of the Ministry of Minority Affairs on Thursday. The Ministry was earlier held by Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi whose Rajya Sabha term ended on 7 July.