Senior Politician Compares Two Indian Muslims, Abdul Kalam and Yakub Memon, Faces Outrage
When newspapers covered the funerals of two Indians – Abdul Kalam and Yakub Memon, not many noticed the fact that both were Indian Muslims. Its because one of them was Dr. Abdul Kalam, one of the most respected political figures, one who wore several hats, and always thought about development of India. No wonder, most Indians were not sure what religion he followed. I guess that’s why some Bollywood celebrities even referred to Abdul Kalam as Abdul Kalam ‘Azad’, obviously in their eagerness to be among the first to tweet their condolences.
However, with the hanging of ‘Yakub Memon’, there have been several posts doing the rounds of the Internet saying how, despite being of the same religion, one had bought ‘fame’ to the country and another one ‘shame’.
Even, Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh did that comparison by reminding us on Twitter, when he said compared the funerals of “two Indian Muslims” One is Yakub Memon who was executed for being the criminal conspirator behind 1993 Mumbai blasts and the other is the eminent scientist, philanthropist, and former President of India, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.
What a coincidence ! Funerals of Two Indian MuslIms on the same day. Dr Kalam who has made every Indian proud of his achievements for India
— digvijaya singh (@digvijaya_28) July 30, 2015
By the way, Did you know that Yakub Memon’s fate would have rested in the hands of a President ‘Kalam’ had the people’s president been alive?
Its a known thing that Abdul Kalam had supported the abolition of capital punishment and acknowledged that confirming a death sentence was one of his “most difficult tasks” and said that “almost all cases which were pending had a social and economic bias.” He did affirm the hanging of convicted rapist and murderer, liftman Dhananjoy Chatterjee because he felt that case to be one without doubt.
Would it have made a difference to Yakub memon’s fate? Well, we can only say that, it doesn’t matter now!
Obviously, Congress leader Digvijay Singh’s tweet wasn’t well received by readers, who were still mourning at the loss of their ‘people’s president’, and who thought the politician was using religion to get mileage out of these events.
Here are some strong reactions to Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh’s tweet:
Absurd! @digvijaya_28 , U &yr party says terrorism hs no religion so #yakub wasn’t Muslim &Kalam sahab was a true Indian, beyond religion
— Anshul Bhartiya (@anshulbhartiya) July 30, 2015
@digvijaya_28 Sir,humble request!! Don’t say 2 Muslims.Aren’u giving a typical colour??? @APJAbdulKalam was/will/n remain an Indian 1st.
— Sumit Awasthi (@awasthis) July 30, 2015
@digvijaya_28 delete the muslim frm th sentence sir n u hav 2 indians…and b4 the rest of us a choice on whch way we would like to go and b
— sangeeta mehra (@sango20) July 30, 2015
How dare you @digvijaya_28 compare Prez #KalamSir with a terrorist & smuggler. Have you lost all your senses? pic.twitter.com/6sQ2mGF5lZ
— Anilkumar Mollahalli (@anilkumar648) July 30, 2015
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