‘Even if we’ve made mistakes, we still have right to stand up for minorities’

AGRA: Senior Congress functionary Salman Khurshid has stirred a controversy by saying that his party’s hands are stained “with the blood of Muslims”.The former Union minister made the remark during an interaction with students at Aligarh Muslim University .Replying to a question by a former AMU student, Amir Mintoee , on communal riots during the decades of Congress rule, Khurshid said, “There is blood on our hands too.”When students pointed out that Mintoee was referring to the role of Congress party as a whole, Khurshid added, “I am a part of Congress. So, let me accept that we have the blood of Muslims on our hands.”Answering the question from a former student, Khurshid continued, “I understand why you are asking this question. You are telling us that if someone attacks you now, then we (Congress) must not come forward to protect you. I am telling you this: we are ready to show the blood on our hands so that you understand that you too must not get blood on your hands.”AMU alumnus Mintoee said he had asked the Congress leader how minorities could trust a party under whose watch several riots had happened. “I pointed out to him that the first amendment (in Constitution) was made in 1948, which was followed by a presidential order in 1950 that saw communal riots in Hasanpura, Maliana and Muzaffarnagar. I further told him that there is a long list of riots that happened under Congress, including the ones after the demolition of Babri Masjid,” said Mintoee.Khurshid also said, “If you attack a community, you are the ones who get stains on your hands. Learn something from our history and don’t create such a situation for yourself, where if you come back to AMU after 10 years you will find someone like yourself who will ask this kind of question.”Explaining his stand, Khurshid told TOI on Tuesday that his statement had been misconstrued. “I could have simply not answered the question but did so to drive home a point that even if we (Congress) have some bloodstains on our clothes or if we have committed some mistakes, we still have the right to stand up for minorities.”