Mumbai, Aug 22 (IANS) Declaring support for Anna Hazare's fast for a stronger Lokpal bill, the All India Ulema Council (AIUC) claimed Monday that religious minorities like Muslims are bigger victims of corruption in India.


AIUC general secretary Maulana Mehmood Daryabadi said the Muslim community is in no manner isolated from corruption or the Hazare movement, as is being projected in some quarters.

"In fact, we suffer more than the average Indian citizen due to corruption. We have to face religious bias as well as the menace of corruption whenever we want to get our work done in government,” Daryabadi told IANS.

Contending their "pain is much more” vis-à-vis corruption coupled with religious bias, he said that they welcome the efforts of Anna Hazare and as Indians, all Muslims support him.

Terming the ongoing agitation by Hazare as "an unprecedented mass movement against corruption", Daryabadi appealed to the civil society representatives to also examine the other problems encountered by the marginalised population of the country.

He said that in the ongoing holy month of Ramzan, all Muslims were praying for the well-being of the country and its people and hoping that it should be cleansed of the menace of corruption.

Referring to Hazare's arrest last week, Daryabadi said it was this action of the government which has united people against corruption and oppression, especially when the constitution guarantees the right of all citizens to protest peacefully.