Indian legislator assures all help to NRIs

A prominent Indian politician, Abu Asim Azmi, has assured Indian workers in the Kingdom that he would take up their grievances with the concerned departments in India to ease their problems.
Azmi, president of the Maharashtra unit of India’s Samajwadi Party, met a large number of workers here and interacted with them.
He held talks with Indian Ambassador Hamid Ali Rao on the new labor policy and its implications on Indian workers. “I stand with the Indian expatriates in the Gulf states, they are important for us … India received $ 70 billion in remittances from non-resident Indians (NRIs) in 2012, $4 billion more than that received by China,” said Azmi.
Referring to the returning Indian workers following the implementation of Nitaqat system, Azmi said: “I and my party will extend all support to workers, especially those from the states of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.”
On the housing problems faced by Muslims in India and the recent controversy following the collapse of a massive apartment in Mumbai, he said that all officials guilty of negligence should be charged and punished.
“I consider the government officials more responsible than builders or those who purchase flats,” said Azmi, and called on the government not to demolish any building in Mumbai suburbs unless its vulnerability is proved. The Mumbai suburbs, such as Mumbra, are primarily inhabited by Muslims.
Referring to the growing number of fabricated cases in which Muslim youth are framed by police in Maharashtra in particular and in India in general, he said there are many cases in which Muslim young boys are falsely accused. “In one case recently involving a young man from Uttar Pradesh, I intervened and rescued the person named Adel, who was being harassed by the Maharashtra police,” he said.
“In jails all across Maharashtra, Muslim prisoners represent 40 percent of the total men or women either detained or serving terms, while the population of Muslims in that state is only 13 percent,” Azmi said, criticizing the Ministry of Minority Affairs of India for inaction.
He called on the government of India to lift the ban on the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), whose complicity in any crime or act of terrorism has not been proved.
He criticized the Indian government for allowing extremist organizations like Nav Bharat, Bajrang Dal and Hindu Mahasabha to work freely.
On the question of pardon to be given to Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, he said he did not oppose any reprieve for Dutt. He added that there are many convicts in Bombay bomb last case, whose crime was less severe than that of Dutt’s.