The entire Muslim community cannot be held responsible for one group's "crime", Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on Thursday while reacting to instances of Muslims being blamed for the spurt in COVID-19 cases after Tablighi Jamaat congregation.

Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has said some "professional people engaged in the business of hatred" have been consistently instigating the Muslims in a vicious manner

Union Minister of Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbad Naqvi spoke with members of Muslim community in India TV studio. He interacted with the audience who asked him questions on anti-CAA protest at Shaheen Bagh in New Delhi.

With the 100 per cent implementation of digital/online Haj process in India, the Indian Muslims' dream of 'Ease of Doing Haj' has been fulfilled, said Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi here on Monday.

India is observing a day of state mourning on Monday over the death of Qaboos.

Hitting out at the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and the Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind for their decision to seek a review of the Ayodhya verdict, Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Sunday said they are trying to create an "atmosphere of division and confrontation" after the matter was laid to rest by the Supreme Court.

Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Thursday said the term minority doesn't denote only Muslims and that there are five other notified minorities: Jains, Buddhists, Christians, Parsis and Sikhs.

"The number of women Haj pilgrims going without mehram (male companion) has increased this year and stood at 2,340. Around 48 per cent of the two lakh Haj pilgrims from India are women," the minister informed.

"Ensuring socio-economic-educational empowerment of minorities through '3Es' -- education, employment and empowerment -- is our target and we will work hard to achieve this goal," Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said.

AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi had earlier said that Muslims do not suddenly become 'second class citizens' of India after BJP's lanslide victory in elections. Naqvi said that such statements do not help anyone and under PM Narendra Modi eveyone feels secured.

Rajya Sabha member Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Thursday took oath as a Union Minister. He was previously the Union Minister of Minority Affairs.  

Accusing Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress of trying to turn the state into a hub of "misrule and hooliganism", Naqvi said it was possible that the administration was not fully cooperating with the EC to maintain law and order during the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.

Terming the Congress a "history-sheeter" in "making mockery of poverty", he said the party should realise that "mountain of slogans" cannot get votes for it.

The entire world will have to unite to defeat the evil of terrorism by isolating those who support it, Naqvi was quoted as saying in a statement from his office.

The Modi government has built a “highway of development” by removing “speed breakers” posed by issues related to religion, region and caste, he said in a statement issued after the inauguration.

Playing down the exit of the TDP and RLSP from the NDA this year, Naqvi said those leaving for their “own political reasons” cannot be stopped.

Taking a swipe at Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his efforts to form a front to take on the BJP in 2019 polls, Union Minister  Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on Sunday that the driver of the opposition alliance wagon doesn't even have a learner's licence and could drive it into a ditch.

“PM Modi has now forgotten to mention his pet schemes like Make In India, Skill India and others because all such efforts have been a big failure. Even a mattress is ordered from China for PM Modi's event,” said Raj Babbar.

On a day that marks 43 years since the Emergency was imposed, Naqvi said it was the "biggest blot on Indian democracy" with hundreds of people "killed and oppressed in jail".

After a gap of two years, Congress party will host an Iftar party here on Wednesday. It will begin in the evening. The party's last Iftar was hosted by then Congress President Sonia Gandhi in 2015.