In response to Ayatollah Khamenei's comments on minorities in India, the Ministry of External Affairs took a firm stance, describing the remarks as ‘misinformed and unacceptable’.

On Monday, India's Ministry of External Affairs issued a strong condemnation of Khamenei's comments, which had criticised the treatment of minorities in India.

Khamenei’s comments were part of a message posted on X, urging global solidarity among Muslims for the occasion of Prophet Mohammed’s birth anniversary. The message did not provide specific details on why he singled out India’s Muslim minority.

In his post on X, Khamenei said: “We cannot consider ourselves to be Muslims if we are oblivious to the suffering that a Muslim is enduring in #Myanmar, #Gaza, #India, or any other place.”

He added, “The enemies of Islam have always tried to make us indifferent with regard to our shared identity as an Islamic Ummah.”

Hours later, the external affairs ministry denounced the Iranian leader’s remarks. “We strongly deplore the comments made regarding minorities in India by the Supreme Leader of Iran,” the ministry said in a statement.

“These are misinformed and unacceptable. Countries commenting on minorities are advised to look at their own record before making any observations about others,” the statement added.

In a separate post on X that had no reference to India, Khamenei again raised the issue of the “oppressed people of Gaza and Palestine”. He said that achieving the “important goal of upholding the Islamic Ummah’s honour can only be realised through unity”.

He added, “Today, it is definitely our duty to support the oppressed people of Gaza and Palestine. Anyone who neglects this duty will surely be questioned by God.”

India and Iran enjoy close ties, with no major issues in their bilateral relations recently. India has a significant stake in the strategic Iranian port of Chabahar, where an Indian state-run company operates a terminal.

The Indian side sent Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar to attend an official ceremony and pay condolences following the deaths of former Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and former Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in May. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari also attended the swearing-in ceremony of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in Tehran in July.

This is not the first time Khamenei has used social media to comment on the status of India’s Muslim minority or other issues related to India.

In August 2019, Khamenei expressed concern about the situation of Muslims in a Twitter post in reaction to the Indian government’s decision to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.

“We’re concerned about Muslims’ situation in #Kashmir. We have good relations with India, but we expect the Indian government to adopt a just policy towards the noble people of Kashmir and prevent the oppression & bullying of Muslims in this region,” he had said in his post.

Khamenei contended the situation in Kashmir and disputes between India and Pakistan regarding the region were a “result of the vicious British government’s measures while leaving the Indian subcontinent”.

In March 2020, Khamenei said in another post on Twitter that “Muslims all over the world are grieving over” the status of the minority community in India. He had then said the government of India should take steps to “prevent India’s isolation from the world of Islam”.

Image source: Reuters