‘All of us are originally born in Hindu Dharma, we belong to this land, we return to the India’s soil after we die’: Ghulam Nabi Azad

A video featuring Ghulam Nabi Azad is making rounds on the internet. In this video, the former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad is seen admitting the common Hindu ancestry of everyone living in India including Indian Muslims. He was seen making this statement as he addressed a program in a higher secondary school in the Chiralla town of the Doda district in Jammu and Kashmir where a significant number of Muslims were present.

The viral video clip is from a speech he gave in a program held on 9th August 2023.

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Hindu Religion is much older than Islam in India. Muslims in our country are because of Conversion from Hindus and in Kashmir all Muslims were converted from Kashmiri Pandits. Everybody is born in Hindu Dharma only. Azad

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— Aquib Mir (@aquibmir71) August 16, 2023

In this video, Ghulam Nabi Azad said, “I have said this in parliament also. That might not have reached you. In a discussion, a BJP member was telling me about who came from outside and who belonged to this land. I said, there is not an issue of insider and outsider. Every one of us is from here only. Islam emerged around 1,500 years ago, while Hinduism is deeply ancient. Some Muslims may have arrived from external origins and served in the Mughal army. Then, people converted from Hinduism to Islam within India.”

Ghulam Nabi Azad added, “A prominent illustration is seen in Kashmir. Was there any Muslim in Kashmir 600 years ago? All of them were Kashmiri Pandits before they were converted to Islam. Therefore, I say that all are originally born in the Hindu Dharma only. Considering the importance of this 9th August (The August Kranti Din) I think everyone – whether Hindu, Muslim, Rajput, Brahmin, Dalit, Kashmiri, or Gujjar, are all part of this homeland and we shall be together to make this home. This is our homeland. None of us has come from outside. Our roots are in this land, we are born in this soil, and we shall return to it after we die. Similarly, when our Hindu brothers die, they are cremated. And after the cremation, their family members also take their ashes to the rivers in this country.”

In August 2022, Ghulam Nabi Azad declined the post of chairman of the campaign committee and also resigned from the political affairs committee of the Jammu and Kashmir state unit of the Congress. He refused to accept the posts within hours of his committee appointment and left the party. Later, Ghulam Nabi Azad formed his own political party Democratic Progress Azad Party.

In 2023, Ghulam Nabi Azad remained in the news for his continuous criticism of the top leadership of the Congress party, especially the Nehru-Gandhi family. In his autobiographical book, he included many detailed incidents pointing out the faults in the Congress party and leadership. In response to his criticism, Congress leaders have termed him a ‘traitor’ on various occasions.