Minister Zameer Ahmed stokes row with remark on Muslim votes for Khandre’s son, downplays it

BIDAR: Housing and Wakf Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan on Tuesday sparked a controversy when he said he will speak to Environment Minister Eshwar Khandre regarding a Muslim burial ground in forest land as the latter’s son had been elected to the Lok Sabha due to Muslim votes. He, however, later sought to downplay the remark.

At a wakf adalat meeting here, Zameer Ahmed received a petition from an individual who claimed that the Muslim burial ground was under the Forest Department and that the community had no place to bury the dead. Responding to the plea, Zameer Ahmed said, “I will speak to Eshwar Khandre. Anyway, his son has won only because of Muslim votes. I will get the job done”.

After the remarks were broadcast on Public TV and the ensuing outrage on social media, Zameer Ahmed sought to downplay his statement and said that he meant that Muslims had voted consolidatedly. “I only said that Muslims have voted for one side which is why Sagar Khandre won. Is it possible to win with only Muslim votes? Muslims have given over two lakh votes to Sagar Khandre, is it possible to win with just two lakh votes? I only meant the Muslim votes did not get distributed”.

Further, he said, “We didn’t have a Congress MP for the last 10 years and now we have our MP and we can get our work done. What is wrong in that? Referring to BJP MLC C T Ravi’s remarks, the minister said, “He lost because he keeps making such statements. He labelled me as anti-Hindu, but I won with a margin of 53,000 votes which included Hindu votes too”.