Giriraj Singh is known for incendiary and polarising statements. (File)
Union Minister Giriraj Singh, in a series of provocative statements on the clashes during Ram Navami processions in some states, said such incidents belied talk of "Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb (syncretic culture)" in India.
Giriraj Singh also used the terms "people of Jinnah's mentality" and "Owaisi-type people" as he lashed out at criticism of Ram Navami processions, with slogans blaring loudly, taken through Muslim-dominated areas.
"Where will Ram Navami processions be taken out if not in this country? In Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and other countries? This is injustice," Mr Singh, the Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, questioned.
"In 1947, there was religious partition. After that, (Asaduddin) Owaisi-type people say why go to this lane and that lane. Have they divided it all into Hindu lanes and Muslim lanes? If they want to use this mentality to create divides, then they should listen carefully. Whoever had to go to Pakistan went there. In our country, there is no bar on our religious practices, our rituals."
Mr Singh, who is known for incendiary and polarising statements, said the country never objected to the construction of new mosques after independence and what he called the "multifold increase" in the Muslim population in the country despite temples being demolished in Pakistan.
"Now our patience is running out and our tolerance is being tested," the Union Minister said, speaking to reporters in Bihar on Monday.
Mr Singh, an MP from Bihar's Begusarai, expressed outrage over incidents like attacks on police officials at Hubli in Karnataka and at Jahangirpuri in Delhi which have witnessed communal violence recently.
Last week, communal clashes broke out in four states - Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengal - during the celebrations of Ram Navami, the festival which marks the birth of Lord Ram. In Delhi, violence erupted on Saturday in the Jahangirpuri area when a Hanuman Jayanti procession passed by a mosque and an argument broke out over religious music clashing with the Azaan or the evening call to prayers.