NEW DELHI: The Darul Uloom Deoband may view it as unlawful for Muslims to work in banks or opt for insurance policies, but Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid today saw nothing wrong in it.
"I am Minority Affairs Minister as well as a Muslim myself. I have both bank account and insurance. We want to develop the community and hence (are) opening more banks in minority areas," Khurshid told reporters here.
He was asked about his views on the fatwas issued by the country's largest Islamic seminary saying working in banks and opting for insurance policy was against tenets of Islam.
The recent fatwas have drawn flak from many clerics and progressive leaders.
The minister, at the same time, refused to get into any "condemnation exercise" on the fatwas.
"My greatest condemnation of such things is through the figures (of the success of minority schemes). Why should I stop my creative work and get into condemnation exercise," he said.
Khurshid said fatwas similar to the in which the seminary held as un-Islamic women working in offices in proximity with men and decreed that acceptance of her earnings by a family was against the Sharia have had no adverse affect on government's programmes.
"No such announcement has ever proved to be a hindrance to our schemes. There is no feedback that the performance of our schemes has got affected due to any propaganda. Why should we be worried, when our programmes are not affected," Khurshid said.
The Minister also said that his ministry has launched an ambitious scheme for development of leadership qualities among minority women to uplift the status of Muslim women along with those from other minorities.
"Nobody has stopped us from opening a bank. We are also receiving demands for opening more such banks in the minority areas," he said.
Asked about demands for Islamic banking in the country, Khurshid said it was for the Reserve Bank of India to take a view.