Hamid Ansari sparks controversy again, targets Sardar Patel at book launch

Former Vice President of India, Hamid Ansari needs no introduction in India after having served two terms at the second highest constitutional post. He shares the record of being only the second VP to be re-elected with Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakirshnan. Ansari has held many important positions in many prominent organizations in the country and yet he is well-known for creating unnecessary controversies. Some of the controversies happened when he was serving as the VP. Shocking statements that the Indian Muslims do not feel protected under PM Modi led BJP government speaks volumes about Ansari’s conduct. This time Ansari went on to target Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in an event.

Speaking at Saeed Naqvi’s new book launch ‘ Being the Other – The Muslim in India’, former VP Hamid Ansari said, “We are not ready to accept that we were equal culprits in the deed.” He further said, “On 11 August, 1947, four days before independence, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel made a statement where he said: ‘We took these extreme steps after great deliberation. In spite of my previous strong opposition to Partition, I agreed to it because I was convinced that to keep India united, it must be divided.'” Ansari appeared absurd when he said Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel is ‘Just as guilty as Pakistan’s Founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah in the conspiracy to partition India’

Ansari further alleged that when politics changed, someone had to be made responsible for partition, and it was easier to point finger against Muslims. He said, “Everyone agreed that Muslims should be held responsible.”

Ansari’s post-retirement plan seems as if he wants to emerge as a strong Muslim leader. When in the office, Hamid Ansari was in fact notorious for flashing victim card at an alarming regularity, and acting like Muslims’ representative. On his last day at office, Hamid Ansari had made a statement about the state of unease and insecurity prevaling among the Indian Muslims. In the year 2015 when he was speaking at the golden jubilee function of All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat in New Delhi, Ansari came out batting in support for affirmative action for muslims.

Instead of using his position to influence the community to shun medieval notions and embrace the change, he supported reservations for Muslims. Then again in 2016, Hamid Ansari donned the hat of Muslim coreligionists’ preotector from the majority community. He asked the courts to “clarify the contours within which the principles of secularism and composite culture should operate with a view to strengthen their functional modality and remove ambiguities”. Basically translated as, how minorities should be protected from the onslaught of majoritarianism. Massive money plundering in RSTV happened under Ex-VP Hamid Ansari.
Just few days ago, Hamid Ansari was complaining about PM Modi’s speech on his last day in Rajya Sabha.

Ansari said, “Many considered the comments to be a departure from accepted practice on such occasions.” He further added, “The Prime Minister while being fulsome in his complements also hinted at what he perceived to be a certain inclination in my approach on account of my having spent, as he put it, both a good part of my professional tenure as a diplomat in Muslim lands and in post-retirement period on minority-related questions.” The basic inference of PM Modi’s speech on Ansari’s farewell was that he never was a Vice President but a spokesperson of Muslims, dangerously tilting towards even the fundamentalists, a fact that was apparent when he attended a program organized by radical Islamist group, PFI.

With his recent unethical statement on Iron man of India- Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel- the former VP has proved that his attitude has not changed even after demitting the office. On the contrary, he has become more vocal in this regard.