( CNN ) -- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said al Qaeda will fail if it seeks to spread its terror network into his country because Muslims there `` will die for India . '' Al Qaeda announced plans this month to launch a new branch in the Indian subcontinent , in a video message featuring al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri . Al-Zawahiri said that his group would seek support in the Indian states of Assam and Gujarat , and in Kashmir , the disputed region between India and Pakistan -- and that he wants to free Muslims from the `` oppression '' they face there . But in an exclusive interview with CNN 's Fareed Zakaria , Modi insisted that any such efforts would not succeed . `` My understanding is that they are doing injustice towards the Muslims of our country , '' he said . `` If anyone thinks Indian Muslims will dance to their tune , they are delusional . Indian Muslims will live for India . They will die for India . They will not want anything bad for India . '' Asked why so few among India 's roughly 170 million Muslims have joined al Qaeda 's ranks , Modi suggested the issue was one of a wider fight for principles , rather than a question of nationality . `` This is a crisis against humanity , not a crisis against one country or one race . So we have to frame this as a fight between humanity and inhumanity . Nothing else . '' India , a predominantly Hindu nation , has a 13 % Muslim population , according to the country 's census . Inter-religious relations have become tense before . In 2002 , Gujarat was wracked with anti-Muslim violence , in which more than 1,000 people , mostly Muslims , were killed . Most of the world 's Muslims live in Asia , with about 1 billion in the Asia-Pacific region and about 322 million in the Middle East and North Africa , according to the Pew Research Center . Besides Assam , Gujarat and Kashmir , al-Zawahiri also said in his message that he would seek to gain support `` for the vulnerable '' in Myanmar and Bangladesh . Peter Bergen , CNN 's national security analyst , called the video `` hyperventilation and posturing . '' `` It 's al-Zawahiri 's obvious way of getting some of the limelight back , '' he said , as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has moved front and center . CNN 's Jason Miks and Madison Park contributed to this report .
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi says al Qaeda wo n't gain a foothold in India . Modi : `` If anyone thinks Indian Muslims will dance to their tune , they are delusional '' Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri released a video message directed at South Asia . Modi frames struggle against al Qaeda as `` a fight between humanity and inhumanity ''