Guwahati: Muslim youth cut a sorry figure when it comes to committing crimes and illegal activities, All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) chief Badruddin Ajmal has said, condemning their lack of interest in studies.
At an event Friday in the Dalgoma Anchalik College, a private college in Assam’s Goalpara district, the 73-year-old leader said that the Muslims top the chart in data of prisoners.
“Crimes like robbery, dacoity, rape, loot — we are No.1 in all. We are also No.1 in going to jail. Our children find no time to go to schools and colleges, but find enough time to gamble, to cheat others. For all such wrong things — ask who’s involved? It’s Muslims. And that’s sad,” Ajmal said at a meeting of alumni.
“People are going to the moon and the sun, and we are doing a Ph.D on how to go to jail. Walk into a police station and you would know who’s in absolute majority — Abdur Rahman, Abdur Rahim, Abdul Majid, Badruddin, Sirajuddin, Fakruddin…Isn’t it a sad thing?” he said.
Assam had the highest number (60.5 percent ) of Muslims as convicted prisoners in the country in 2021, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data released last year. As many as 49.3 percent of jailed undertrials were Muslims in the state, it added.
Overall, the share of Muslims in India’s prison population comprising convicts, undertrials, detenues and others was 18.7 percent in 2021, the NCRB report said. This, however, was down from 20.2 percent in 2020.
Muslim population in Assam is 1.07 crore (34.22 percent) of the total 3.12 crore, according to the 2011 Census. Overall, the Muslim population stands at about 17.22 crore (14.2 percent) in India.
Ajmal, who has often portrayed himself as a defender of the Muslims in Assam, focused much of his speech on his claim that Muslim youth have gone astray, and should be uplifted through rational thinking and the medium of education.
“Why do you ogle at women in public? Don’t you have ‘Ma-Boin’ (mother-sister) in your homes? Because of our boys, girls are not safe in the streets. This is not what Islam teaches. There’s a single road to our development — education and only education,” he said. “Once upon a time we were No. 1 in the world when it came to education, it’s no longer the same.”
“If stomach and pockets are empty, even love doesn’t seem nice. How long will a hungry man love?” said the AIUDF supremo, who has often been in headlines for his controversial remarks.
Founded in 2005 by Ajmal, AIUDF currently holds 9.3 percent vote share and has 16 MLAs in the 126-member Assam assembly.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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