Trinamool minister denies making ‘mini Pakistan’ remark

Kolkata April 30 (IANS) West Bengal minister and Trinamool Congress heavyweight Firhad Hakim on Saturday denied having described the city's Garden Reach as area "mini-Pakistan" to a correspondent of Pakistani daily.

"Please come along and let us take you to mini-Pakistan in Kolkata," Hakim, contesting from Kolkata Port, was quoted as saying by the "The Dawn" in its Friday report "Canvassing in 'mini-Pakistan' of Kolkata".

With the opposition strongly condemning his remarks, Hakim denied making the comments alleging it was a communal conspiracy.

"If (prime minister) Narendra Modi goes to Pakistan again and again, no one says a thing. But if a Muslim accompanies a Pakistani journalist, there's such a hue and cry. They don't criticise Modi when he drops in to Pakistan without notice? This is all a communal conspiracy," Hakim told a TV channel.

"If Modi is a son of the soil so am I, so why this hue and cry?" he said.

"I have not said that, but even if I have, though I have not, what is the harm? Even in Singapore there is a mini-India. She (the Pakistani correspondent) said she felt at home and that the streets were like Karachi. So I said you are welcome to your home," clarified the state urban development minister.

While Communist Party of India-Marxist politburo member Mohammed Salim condemned Hakim for hurting the people's sentiments, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jayprakash Majumdar said his party will be moving the poll panel on the matter.