Furore over Ilmi’s call to Muslims

AAP leader Shazia Ilmi addressing the media in Guwahati on Tuesday.

Aam Aadmi Party candidate from Ghaziabad parliamentary constituency Shazia Ilmi on Tuesday found herself in the centre of a controversy after a video surfaced on Youtube showing her prodding Muslims to go “communal.”

The purported comments were made last week in Mumbai while campaigning for party candidate Meera Sanyal in the South Mumbai constituency.

Ms. Ilmi later clarified that by using the term “communal” she did not mean “political commu-nalism.” She used it in the sense of “taking care of their community’s interests only.”

The video, the authenticity of which

The Hindu cannot verify, shows Ms. Ilmi as saying, “I am saying Muslims are very secular. Muslims need to be communal. A Muslim is not communal, doesn't vote for his own. Arvind Kejriwal is one of you. You are too secular, sometimes you vote for the Congress, sometimes for others. Don’t be this secular. Look after your own homes [interests]. This may be a very controversial thing to say but it is essential.”

The AAP however, immediately disapproved of her comments saying she should have been more “careful” while choosing words.

Senior party leader Manish Sisodia said “I have seen Shazia Ilmi's video clip. She shouldn't have made these remarks. We do not believe in this kind of politics. Our politics is to unite all Indians.”