Even as novel coronavirus infections soar in Pakistan, approaching nearly 2,500 cases on Friday, Prime Minister Imran Khan appears to have returned to a pet theme of his: Comparing the BJP to the Nazis.
On Friday morning, Imran tweeted, "The RSS inspired BJP leadership in the 21st century openly speaking about the 200 million Muslims just as the Nazis spoke about the Jews." To make his point, Imran put up a video clip of an interview of senior BJP MP Subramanian Swamy with Vice, a US media outlet. The interview of Swamy on Vice's Showtime programme is set to air at 8pm (US Eastern Time) on Sunday.
In the clip, Vice journalist Isobel Yeung discusses the impact of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act on India's Muslim population. The clip starts with footage of Swamy in the Rajya Sabha on December 11, 2019, soon after passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
In the clip, Swamy tells Yeung that "On this issue (CAA), the country is with us (BJP); most people like our hardline approach to solving pending problems". Swamy describes the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act as a "commitment that we had made over several years". "We know where the Muslim population is large, there is always trouble..."
When told by Yeung that India had the second-largest Muslim population in the world, Swamy said if "Muslims become more than 30 per cent (of the population), that country is in danger". Swamy told Vice that he "was being kind to them (Muslims) by not letting them come to India".
When reminded that Article 14 of the Indian Constitution guaranteed equality before law for all, Swamy argued, "Article 14 guaranteed equality of equals," adding "all people are not equal". Swamy emphasised Muslims “were not in an equal category...”
Always known for his provocative utterances, Swamy was charged in 2011 for promoting enmity between different communities for writing in an article that Muslims, who refuse to acknowledge their Hindu legacy, be denied voting rights.
Imran Khan had repeatedly compared the BJP to the Nazis over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, even warning of genocide.