New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs has condemned the statement made by Iran’s Supreme Leader Imam Sayyid Ali Khamenei. MEA’s reaction came after Iran’s Supreme Leader Imam Sayyid Ali Khamenei’s social media post on ‘suffering of Muslim’. Interestingly, the remark came when the world celebrated Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi, commemorating the birthday of Prophet Muhammad.

“The enemies of Islam have always tried to make us indifferent with regard to our shared identity as an Islamic Ummah. 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”, tweeted Imam Sayyid Ali Khamenei.

MEA’s Response On Khamenei’s Remarks

MEA on their official statement said, “We strongly deplore the comments made regarding minorities in India by the Supreme Leader of Iran. These are misinformed and unacceptable. Countries commenting on minorities are advised to look at their own record before making any observations about others”. While the MEA’s official statement didn’t address any particular person, it is believed that it came as reaction to the statement of the Iranian Supreme leader.

Khamenei’s Previous Remarks on Indian Muslims

It is to be noted that this is not the first time that Imam Sayyid Ali Khamenei has spoken about the minorities in India. In 2019, he raised his concerns about the abrogation of Article 370 by the PM Narendra Modi led Central government. His tweet read, “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”.

In his recent statement regarding the Muslims across the globe, he blamed the use of ‘ideological, propagational, media & economic factors to separate Shia from Sunni, within the country & all over the world’. He advocated that the Islamic Ummah’s honour can only be realised through unity.

India-Iran Relations

If we look at the relation between India & Iran, both the countries have shared a long history of interactions with commercial and connectivity cooperation, cultural ties. Bilateral relations were further strengthened by PM Narendra Modi’s visit during his first term in 2016. Prime Minister Modi & late Iranian President Raisi also met on the sidelines of the SCO Heads of State Summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan in September 2022. Both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to bilateral cooperation, especially in trade and connectivity. EAM S Jaishankar also visited Iran in January 2024 where he held discussion on bilateral, regional and global issues with late Iranian foreign minsiter Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

Internet Users Slam Khamenei

As of the 2011 census, Muslims are the largest religious minority in India making up about 14.2% of the country’s population. It hasn’t reported any crisis like Palestine, Gaza or Afghanistan so far. Khamenei’s remark has sparked controversy across the social media platforms with internet users asking him to look at his own country first. Several users asked him to fix his own house & if his heart bleeds for Indian oppressed Muslims then he should provide them with citizenship. India has taken sharp criticism of the Iranian leader’s statement.

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