On February 12, Janata Dal United (JDU) leader and former MLC Gulam Rasool Balyawi demanded 30 per cent of jobs for Muslims in Army. Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Balyawi said, “If PM Modi is scared of dealing with Pakistan, give 30% of jobs to Muslims in the Army. When Pakistan was threatening India with missiles, no baba from Nagpur came to answer it. That was the son of a Muslim whose name is APJ Abdul Kalam.”
Balyawi was speaking at Markazi Irada-e-Sharia’s event. During his address, he claimed that Baba Ramdev is not an Indian and has connections with Lashkar-e-Taiba of Pakistan. He demanded an investigation to find out from where Baba Ramdev accumulated such vast property. He also demanded an investigation into the businesses of Baba Ramdev, including the production of medicines and other products.
During the event, he also raised questions about Bageshwar Dham’s Dheerendra Shastri. He targeted the Hindu leader and claimed it was unknown from where Baba Bageshwar came. “We do not know him. We only know the constitution and judiciary. There is no space for such cons in our country. Clothes and makeup cannot distract us.”
It is notable here that there is no concept of caste or religion-based selection in the Indian Army. Soldiers are chosen only on the basis of merit and there is no provision that stops Muslims, or anyone for that matter, from applying to work in the Indian Army if they meet the eligibility criteria.
Bilyawi’s history of controversial statements
Gulam Rasool Bilyawi has a history of making controversial statements. On January 20, it was reported that Bilyawi threatened that the Muslims would turn cities into Karbala if any comments were made disrespecting the prophet Muhammad. He said, “we are in Karbala ground…if you disrespect our Prophet, we will turn cities into Karbala.” He further said, “I don’t want to name any party. Not a single so-called secular leader demanded the arrest of this crazy woman”. It is unclear whom he was referring to, but he was possibly talking about now-suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma.
In January 2022, he had opposed Surya Namaskar, saying ‘Allah gave birth to the Sun, we cannot worship it’.
