PM’s ‘Muslims fix punctures’ remark gets Oppn backlash

New Delhi: Several Opposition leaders have reacted sharply to a statement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that young Muslims wouldn’t need to repair punctures for a livelihood if Waqf properties - or properties meant for charitable or religious purposes under Islamic law - had been used “honestly”.

While addressing the inaugural ceremony of an airport at Haryana’s Hisar yesterday, PM Modi had said that lakhs of hectares of land are Waqf property but they were misused.

“If Waqf properties had been used honestly, Muslim youths wouldn’t need to earn a livelihood from repairing bicycle punctures. But only a few land mafia benefited from these properties. This mafia was looting lands belonging to Dalit, backward sections and widows,” he said, adding that the amended Waqf law will address these issues.

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi hit back at the comment, saying that if the Sangh (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS, the BJP’s ideological parent) had used its ideology and resources in the country’s interest, the Prime Minister “would not need to sell tea” in his childhood.

Owaisi asked what Prime Minister Modi had done for the poor -- Hindus or Muslims -- in the 11 years that his government has been in power.

“The biggest reason for what happened with Waqf properties is that Waqf laws were always weak. Modi’s Waqf amendments will weaken them further,” he wrote on X.

Reacting on PM Modi’s statement, Congress’ Rajya Sabha MP Imran Pratapgarhi said ‘Muslims fix punctures’ is the kind of language trolls use on social media. “Such a remark does not behove the Prime Minister. Also, you have brought the country’s youth to this point. There are no jobs. The only option is to fix punctures or sell fritters,” he said.

“Muslims don’t just make punctures. I can list what Muslims have made. But this is not the time. You are saying Congress sympathisers (with Muslims). Do you hate them? If you don’t, why did you throw Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Shahnawaz Hussain, MJ Akbar and Zafar Islam in the dustbin? You are saying you want to do good for Muslims through the Waqf Bill, but you don’t have one Muslim MP to present it in the Lok Sabha. You talk about the rights of Muslim women. You don’t have a Muslim woman member in Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha or any state Assembly,” Pratapgarhi further said.

Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate also questioned why Prime Minister Modi did not pay tribute to BR Ambedkar, the Constitution’s architect, at a Parliament function to mark his birth anniversary. Responding to the Prime Minister’s question on why the Congress doesn’t name a Muslim party chief, she asked why the BJP does not have a Dalit Chief Minister.

PM also accused the Congress of appeasement politics and said this approach has harmed the Muslims too.

The Waqf (Amendment) Bill cleared the Parliament earlier this month and is now an Act. Congress and other Opposition parties had opposed the legislation, alleging that the government is eyeing Waqf properties and targeting the minority community. with agency inputs