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Shazia Ilmi defends her utterances on Muslims

by India Blooms News Service 23 Apr 2014, 12:33 am

New Delhi, Apr 23 (IBNS) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Shazia llmi on Wednesday defended her remarks on Muslims and said she was speaking 'sarcastically'.

"I am shocked to see how my statement was distorted by the media. I was speaking sarcastically," said llmi. 

"What I was trying to say is that the Muslim community for long has been used in the name of secularism by political parties," she added.

Coming under fire, Ilmi earlier also had tried to clarify her remarks.

"Well someone was accusing muslims of being communal. I think muslims keep voting for cong which uses them as vote bank," Ilmi tweeted.

"Its like misquoting Arvind's (Kejriwal) quote on being an anarchist. The context was contextually removed and just' I'm an anarchist was played out'," she said.

However, her party has disapproved of her comments.

"Regarding Shazia Ilmi's clip - AAP does not believe in this kind of politics nor does it endorse it.....All our representatives should be careful in their choice of words so that there is no scope for misinterpretation," the AAP said in a Twitter post.

AAP leader Manish Sisodia ‏tweeted: "I've seen Shazia's clip. She should have not said it. AAP does not believe in communal politics. Our politics is to unite all Indians.

Ilmi is AAP's candidate from Ghaziabad seat.