In parting shot, Vice-President Hamid Ansari talks of ‘unease’ among Muslims

Rajya Sabha today bids farewell to Vice President M Hamid Ansari as member after members laud him for his wisdom and impartiality.

Naidu, 68, earlier took oath as India’s 13th Vice President, succeeding Hamid Ansari, who finished his decade-long two terms as Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman on Thursday. The BJP has hit back, saying this was political propaganda.

India’s vice-president has been getting fire from a number of leaders belonging to the ruling Modi-led Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) over his comments that Muslims in the country feel “unease, a sense of insecurity”, reported Times of India. “People try to use minority issues for political purposes”, Naidu added. Instead of reiterating the nation’s commitment to the secular ideals of the Constitution, Naidu resorted to a pretty sermon, describing India as the most tolerant country in the world.

Asked whether he felt that the Muslims are beginning to feel they are not wanted, Ansari said, “I would not go that far, there is a sense of insecurity”.

To a poser on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, the former diplomat said, “the problem has always been primarily a political problem”.

Speaking in the RS on Hamid Ansari’s last day in office as Vice-President, PM Modi said, “Your family has been in public life for nearly hundred years”.

And as if this was not enough PM Modi also scoffed at career diplomats after defining Ansari as one, where he stated that he only got to know what this meant when he assumed office, and realised that their smile and their handshake did not reveal their real thoughts. “And, in your private life, you will be able to make these contributions, I think, in as effective a way, as you have been making while you are in Chair”.

He served as the Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Information and Broadcasting in Prime Minister Narendra Modi Government before he was nominated for the post of Vice President. Sappal is also the chief executive of Rajya Sabha TV and has worked with Ansari since the latter assumed office. The PM left nothing to imagination in his “other-isation” of Muslims, saying that Ansari spent several years in “that” circle.

The BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya said nobody expected such “petty comments” from a person holding such a high place. “We have different languages, different cultures in our country, yet we are one”.

Following the ceremonial reception Naidu took over as the speaker of the Rajya Sabha in the Parliament.