Union Minister Kiren Rijiju claimed on Wednesday that India is still the world's safest nation for minorities, attributing the majority community's inherent secularism to this security.
Speaking at the Lok Sabha after a lengthy 12-hour debate on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025, Rijiju, who is the Union Minister for Minority Affairs, said: "Even the smallest minority communities like the Parsis are living with dignity in India.".
"Some have said that minorities are not safe in India. This is totally unfounded. There's nowhere more secure in the world for a minority than India. I am a minority myself and we all reside here without fearfulness, with pride," he asserted.
Rijiju noted that whenever minority communities are persecuted in other nations, they find shelter in India. He mentioned the cases of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan community, as well as minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka, who sought refuge in India.
"Minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan fled to India after suffering religious persecution in their homelands. How can anyone claim that minorities are unsafe here? Such a statement is entirely incorrect. The coming generations will not forgive this falsehood," he said.
Rijiju also contended that minorities in India prosper because the majority community in India maintains secular values, in contrast to what happens in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. "But still, despite all this, you keep criticizing us," he said.
In defense of the Bill, he said that the NDA government wants to unite all minority communities with its provisions. He also added that the Christian community has wholeheartedly supported the legislation.
Emphasizing the necessity of change, Rijiju referenced the huge pile-up of unprocessed cases that had been hanging over Waqf tribunals. "We want to speed up settlement of disputes before these tribunals. Delay in justice means denial of justice. This Bill will provide justice to widows, divorcees, and orphans," he added.
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