New Delhi: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Civil Aviation Minister Shahnawaz Hussain said Muslims in the country need not prove their patriotism to anybody, as they are patriotic like any other Indian citizen.

"Muslims do not need a certificate of patriotism. In 1947, when there was partition, those Muslims who chose to stay in India considered it as their motherland. We won't take it (a certificate) nor do we need it," Hussain said in an interview on a private television channel.

"All Muslims can't be Pakistanis," he said and cited the examples of A P J Abdul Kalam and himself as achieving positions of President and a minister in India.

Stating he was "fully satisfied" with BJP, Hussain said the ruling party had given him "enormous responsibility" at such a young age of 34 years.

"I will never betray the party in times of crisis... when it has put so much confidence in me," he added.

Asked about his absence from campaigning for BJP in Gujarat elections, he said, "The party has not used any double language. Many star campaigners were not called for campaigning in Gujarat.

"I don't think about my future in BJP. I feel the secular Democratic line which the BJP has taken and moving forward... there is no atmosphere against Muslims," he said.

PTI