Moradabad MP S.T. Hasan has said that at times when he entered the Lok Sabha he felt like entering a “religious congregation”. He was speaking at the Moradabad tehsil during a protest organised by the Samajwadi Party against the policies of the Uttar Pradesh government. “It was never like this. As a parliamentarian, I have to hang my head in shame.”
Addressing his “Hindu brothers”, he asked what they had achieved by the dilution of Article 370 and criminalising triple talaq.
Later speaking to The Hindu , Dr. Hasan said he felt ashamed by the religious slogans raised in Parliament. “It could be Jai Shri Ram or Allah O Akbar... chanting religious slogans is against the secular credentials of Parliament,” he said.
The Moradabad MP said Kashmir was always ours and will always be ours but the stripping it of its special status hadn’t provided anything to the common man. “It is not going to improve his standard of living. It seems the triple talaq law was passed to show that the government could interfere in the Shariat,” said Dr. Hasan over the phone.
The SP MP alleged that the Central government is using religion as a “tool” to divert attention from “real issues”. He also questioned the powers given to the National Investigation Agency.
Support for Azam
Backing beleaguered party leader Azam Khan, Dr. Hasan was heard saying in the video that he was being targeted by the government because he was a leader of the Muslim masses. “They want to silence him. In the last few years, Muslims are being oppressed.” Without naming anybody, he said, “they” wanted to send a message that when Mr. Khan could be treated like that, what “status” do you have. “My point was that if Azam Khan is guilty, punish him but don’t use him to create a hype by charging him with frivolous cases,” said the MP.
When pointed out that his opponents could use such statements to portray him as the leader of just one community, Dr. Hasan said both Hindus and Muslims voted for him. “I believe in Ganga-Jamuni tradition and would save it at all cost ,” he said.
