Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has again embroiled himself in a needless controversy targeting India over the Citizenship Amendment Act.
Bengaluru: Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad was in the news for his needless remark against India when Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government abrogated articles 370 and 35A.
He had gone to the extent of saying that “India has invaded and occupied Kashmir” at the United Nations General Assembly.
India had reacted strongly as the matter was and is purely an internal affair.
Now comes another embarrassing goof up by the Malaysian Prime Minister.
In relation to the enactment of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), he is reported to have said, “I am sorry to see that India, which claims to be a secular state, now is taking action to deprive some Muslims of their citizenship. If we do that here, I do not know what will happen. There will be chaos and instability, and everybody will suffer."
Even a cursory glance at what the Malaysian Prime Minister reportedly said would exhibit his ignorance about the issue. As reiterated by the Indian government, the CAA is not to persecute or alienate any of the Indian citizens, including Muslims, but to grant citizenship to around 32000 Hindu migrants from Pakistan.
India rightfully lodged a protest against the remarks saying that they were “insensitive” and the PM was “ill-informed”.
What gives fillip to India’s move is the step taken by Penang deputy chief minister P Ramasamy.
He said, “Just as he got it wrong on the Kashmir matter by saying that India invaded and occupied the Muslim dominated province, he is wrong on the matter of the amendment to the citizenship law,” as quoted by Free Malaysia Today.
In fact, earlier, taking umbrage to his comments on the abrogation of articles 370 and 35A, Indian businessmen had decided to replace Malaysian palm oil imports by buying more oil from Indonesia and increasing edible oil supplies from Ukraine. Incidentally, it’s the first time that India was using its heft as a trade partner to express unhappiness over a political statement.
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