- Sunday, March 02, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
India has strongly hit back at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) over its statement on the recent violence during the Hindu festival of Ram Navami marking the birth anniversary of Lord Rama on its soil saying it is “one more example of their communal mindset and anti-India agenda”.
Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson of India’s ministry of external affairs, condemned the OIC’s statement alleging the Muslim community was targeted in several Indian states during the Ram Navami celebrations earlier this week.
He said the OIC only “does its reputation damage by being consistently manipulated by anti-India forces”.
The general secretariat of the Saudi Arabia-based organisation had issued its statement expressing deep concern at “acts of violence and vandalism targeting (the) Muslim community in several states in India during the Ram Navami processions”.
It also cited the instance of vandalism of a madrasa in the eastern state of Bihar and accused the country of “Islamophobia”.
Violence broke out in a number of states, including West Bengal, Bihar, Gujarat and Maharashtra during the festival in which two persons were killed and many injured.
India also lashed out at OIC over its “unwarranted references” to Jammu and Kashmir.
Seema Pujani, first secretary of India’s permanent mission to the United Nations in Geneva, on Friday (31) accused the OIC of letting “Pakistan hijack and misuse its platform for carrying out its nefarious agenda of engaging in malicious propaganda against India”, NDTV reported.
“The fact is that the entire territories of the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh have been, are and shall always be part of India. Pakistan is in illegal occupation of Indian territory,” she said, according to the report.
