Meanwhile, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, who has been under fire after a video of him sharing the dais with Naik in 2012 went viral, accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of maintaining double standards. "Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (Art of Living founder) shares stage with him (Naik), that's nationalism. I share stage, I'm anti-national? What kind of double standards are these?," said the senior leader. He pointed out that Singh's "nationalism" was never challenged even when he visited Pragya Thakur, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blasts.
Naik has been in the news ever since media reports claimed that his hate speech "inspired" one of the militants behind the siege at a café in Dhaka last week. On Thursday, Mumbai Police deployed officers outside Naik’s house in Dongri in Thane district as a precaution.
On Wednesday, Minister for State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju had said Naik’s speech was a “matter of concern” and that “agencies were working on it”. He added that India has good relations with Bangladesh, especially with regard to fighting terrorism.
In his lecture aired on an international Islamic channel, Peace TV, Naik had allegedly urged all Muslims to become terrorists. According to Bangladeshi newspaper The Daily Star, militant Rohan Imtiaz ran a propaganda message on Facebook last year quoting Naik, who is banned in the United Kingdom, Malaysia and Canada for his “hate speeches".
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