Former Jammu Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Thursday courted a major controversy after he said that all Indian Muslims were Hindus first.
Addressing a gathering of workers the former Congress leader said, “All Indian Muslims were Hindus first who converted to Islam later.”
He said, Islam has come to our Hindustan only a few years back but Hinduism is very old. So 10-20 people must have come from outside in the army of Mughals and the rest are converted from Hindus.”
Pertinently Islam came to Kashmir long before the Mughals did. The first Mughal emperor to invade Kashmir was Akbar and Islam had arrived in the valley at least 300 years earlier at the hands of Abdul Rahman popularly known as Bulbul Shah e Kashmir.
He further said, “In Kashmir, all Muslims were converted from Kashmiri Pandits. Everybody is born in Hindu Dharma only.”