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Tag: AIMIM

  • UP polls: AIMIM offers party ticket to gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: The AIMIM on Friday offered to field gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, hours after the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) denied ticket to him.

    Earlier in the day, BSP supremo Mayawati said her party will make efforts to not field ‘bahubali’ (strongmen) or mafia candidates in the upcoming polls and announced that Ansari, who is lodged in a jail in Banda, will not be given a ticket from Mau again.

    The All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen’s (AIMIM) national spokesperson Syed Asim Waqar said the party’s doors are open for Ansari.

    “If Ansari wants to contest the election, the doors of AIMIM are open for him. We will give him a ticket and ensure his victory also,” he told PTI.

    Waqar asked other Muslims also not to “purchase tickets” from any other political party as they will ensure their defeat even after taking money from them.

    “Votes of their communities (other parties) do not transfer to Muslims. I ask Muslims who want to contest elections to come and join AIMIM. The party will give them tickets,” he said.

    Mayawati announced the name of BSP state president Bhim Rajbhar from the Mau seat, currently represented by Ansari.

    On September 7, jailed gangster and former MP Atiq Ahmad and his wife had joined AIMIM in presence of its chief Asaduddin Owaisi.

    While Ahmad’s wife Shaista Praveen joined the AIMIM at a press conference, he joined the new party in absentia.

    Defending his decision to induct Ahmad, who has several criminal cases lodged against him, AIMIM’s chief Asaduddin Owaisi had said that some BJP leaders were also facing criminal cases.

  • Asaduddin Owaisi booked in UP for ‘vitiating’ communal harmony, violating Covid norms

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh Police has booked AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi for allegedly vitiating communal harmony, violating Covid norms and making “indecent” remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, police said Friday.

    The FIR against the All India Majlis-e-Itthehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief was registered Thursday night at Barabanki city police station after his party’s rally.

    IPC sections 153A (promoting enmity on ground of religion, race etc.), 188 (disregarding order of a public servant), 269 (negligent act likely to spread disease dangerous to life), 270 (malignant act likely to spread infection of disease) and the Epidemic Act have been slapped against him, Superintendent of Police, Barabanki, Yamuna Prasad said.

    He said the Hyderabad MP violated Covid guidelines — on mask and social distancing — by arranging huge crowds at the party rally at Katra Chandana.

    ALSO READ | Digvijaya Singh slams RSS for dividing Hindus, Muslims; targets Owaisi for ‘friendly matches’ with BJP

    “In his speech, the AIMIM chief made statements for vitiating communal harmony and said the 100-year-old Ram Sanehi Ghat mosque was razed by the administration and its debris was also removed. This is contrary to the fact,” the SP said.

    The old mosque Owaisi referred to was located adjacent to the tehsil premises and opposite the SDM’s residence.

    It was demolished on May 17 on the orders of a Barabanki SDM court.

    Barabanki District Magistrate Adarsh Singh had said the structure was illegal, and the tehsil administration got its possession on March 18.

    He had said the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court had disposed of a petition filed in this connection on April 2, which proved the construction was illegal.

    Barabanki SP Yamuna Prasad also said Friday, “By his statement, Owaisi tried to vitiate communal harmony and incite feelings of a particular community. He also made indecent and baseless remarks against the PM and the Uttar Pradesh chief minister.”

    ​ALSO READ | Owaisi sounds poll bugle in Ayodhya, party to contest 100 seats in UP

    Owaisi was on a three-day trip to Uttar Pradesh, where his party plans to contest 100 seats in the upcoming assembly polls.

    Owaisi had Thursday alleged there have been efforts to turn the country into a “Hindu Rashtra” since he came to power seven years back.

    He also referred to the law against instant triple talaq and mentioned the “plight” of Hindu women, while directing a personal barb at Modi.

    “Ever since Narendra Modi became prime minister, efforts are on to demolish secularism and make the country a Hindu Rashtra,” he had said.

    Criticising the triple talaq law, Owaisi said, “BJP leaders talk about injustice against Muslim women subject to talaq but remain mum on the issue of the plight of Hindu women discarded by their men.”

    “My bhabhi (PM Modi’s wife) stays alone in Gujarat but nobody has an answer for her,” he had said.

  • Digvijaya Singh slams RSS for dividing Hindus, Muslims; targets Owaisi for ‘friendly matches’ with BJP

    By ANI

    INDORE: Former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh and senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Tuesday slammed the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and alleged that the organisation was dividing the Hindu and Muslim communities by spreading lies and misconceptions. Singh also indicated that the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi was in collusion with the BJP in several states during polls.

    Speaking at “Saampradaayik Sadbhaavana Sammelan” (communal harmony conference) organised in Indore, Singh also accused All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi, a former ally of the Congress, of “playing friendly matches” with the BJP in several states during crucial elections.

    Reacting to the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s comments that the DNA of Hindus and Muslims being one, Singh asked “why were issues like love jihad being raised if that was the case?”

    “RSS has been doing the politics of divide and rule for ages. They are dividing the two communities by spreading lies and misconceptions,” Singh alleged.

    Attacking Owaisi, the Congress leader asked why AIMIM did not contest on all the Assembly seats in Telangana.

    “Why did it contest Bihar polls and why is it entering into the fray in Uttar Pradesh? It is just like a friendly match,” Singh said.

    Singh’s comments came even as Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections are scheduled to take place early next year.

    Owaisi was recently on a visit to the UP which is scheduled to face assembly elections early next year. He has been in talks with smaller political outfits for a possible alliance.

    At present, there are 110 Assembly constituencies in UP where Muslim voters make up around 30-39 per cent. On 44 seats, this percentage rises to 40-49 per cent while on 11 seats, the Muslim voters are around 50-65 per cent.

    In the 2017 Assembly elections, the BJP won a landslide victory winning 312 Assembly seats. The party secured a 39.67 per cent vote share in the elections for 403-member Assembly. Samajwadi Party (SP) bagged 47 seats, BSP won 19 while Congress could manage to win only seven seats.

    Meanwhile, Singh stated that “fundamentalist ideologies, whether of Hindus or Muslims, are nothing but two sides of the same coin.”

    Asked to comment on lyricist Javed Akhtar’s comparison between RSS and the Taliban, the Congress leader said, “Akhtar is a renowned thinker. I am not aware in what context he made the statement. But the country’s Constitution has given the freedom to every citizen including Akhtar to express his views, even if you agree with them or not.”

    Elaborating further, he said, “Satirist Sampat Saral had once defined Taliban and gave an equation that politics plus religion is equal to the Taliban.”

    the BJP on Tuesday accused former Chief Minister and Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) chief Mayawati and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi of doing communal politics in the state.

    Hitting at Mayawati for promising to ensure the security of the Brahmin community if her party came to power in Uttar Pradesh, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia recalled BSP’s old slogan “Tilak, Taraju Aur Talwar, Inko Maro Joote Char”.

    “It is good for democracy that the former chief minister left her home after getting out of her Rs 5 crore garland. Finally, she remembers a particular community. People who do not want the interest of the public and build their own mansions worth billions of rupees, have to do such things at the time of elections. It is their political compulsion,” said the BJP leader.

    Bhatia said the BJP is confident that the party will return to power in the state on the merit of the work done under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the BJP government.

    When asked about the AIMIM Chief’s statement seeking the support of the Muslim community in the state, the BJP leader said, “Wherever Owaisi will go, he will definitely spread the communal poison.”

    “But, citizens of Uttar Pradesh are mature and will vote for development. They will vote for ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vishwas’.”

    Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections are scheduled to take place early next year. In the 2017 Assembly polls, the BJP won 325 seats out of a total of 403 Assembly seats. Samajwadi Party and its allies won 54 seats, BSP won 19 seats and others won 5 seats respectively.

    Owaisi on Tuesday alleged that Muslims have been “cheated” in the name of secularism as he launched a scathing attack on the Samajwadi Party and declared that he had come to Uttar Pradesh to defeat the BJP.

    “Our first effort is that our Muslim leadership should be developed in the biggest state of the country that is Uttar Pradesh,” he said, starting his political campaign in the poll-bound state from Ayodhya.

    The All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen leader also said his party has made all booth-level preparations to contest 100 out of the total 403 assembly seats in UP.

    Addressing a rally at Rasulabad village in the Muslim-dominated constituency of Rudauli in Ayodhya, the AIMIM leader urged Muslims not to live “in the shadows” and alleged that SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has always created fear among the community.

    “Nineteen percent (of voters) are Muslims and nine percent are Yadavs, but the chief minister will be yours (of the Yadav clan) and we (Muslims) will not even get the job of a peon,” the AIMIM chief said targeting the Samajwadi Party which has been relying on the Muslim-Yadav combination for victory in the state.

    Owaisi claimed that Yadav voters were not voting for Muslim candidates.

    He alleged that other political parties do not want the Muslim leadership to develop in the country and said Muslims were “helpless” in Uttar Pradesh as they have been denied their “share”.

    “Everyone got a share in UP, but the Muslims of UP did not get their share. Muslims have been cheated in the name of secularism, ” Owaisi alleged.

    “The AAP, SP, BSP did not want anyone from the Muslim community to emerge as a leader. As I am talking of giving participation to Muslims, they are feeling uncomfortable,” he said.

    He lashed out at the ruling BJP over the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and asserted that his objective is to defeat the saffron party.

    “We have been intimidated by (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi and Yogi (Adityanath), but we have come to defeat the BJP.

    “People have lost their lives in the COVID-19 pandemic. People have died due to the lack of oxygen. The dead bodies were buried on the banks of the river and were scavenged by the dogs,” he said.

    The venue of the rally was around 20 km away from Dhannipur, where a mosque is coming up under the Supreme Court verdict in the Ram Janmabhoomi case.

    “Why do Muslims in Ayodhya feel ashamed or apprehensive to even talk about the Babri demolition.

    All political parties have exploited Muslims and Dalits,” Owaisi said Talking about the controversy over Ayodhya being referred to by its old name ‘Faizabad’ in his posters, he said, “Some people started saying that I don’t want to take the name of Ayodhya. I want to say that Ayodhya belongs to India. Faizabad belongs to India and Owaisi also belongs to India.”

    Jailed gangster and former MP Atiq Ahmad’s wife Shaista Praveen on Tuesday joined the AIMIM in the presence of Owaisi in Lucknow.

    Ahmad joined the new party in absentia.

    Owaisi alleged that SP and the Bahujan Samaj Party used Muslims as “slaves”.

    The AIMIM leader began his three-day tour to UP from Tuesday.

    He is scheduled to visit Sultanpur and Barabanki on September 8 and September 9 respectively.

    Owaisi has been making efforts to expand the party across the country and has had some success in Maharashtra and Bihar.

    The party, however, could not make gains in West Bengal.

    “Muslims used to do ‘gulami’ (slavery) of Samajwadi Party and BSP and raise slogans in their favour and to make their government.

    But when it came to giving them participation, they did not talk,” he said “When it comes to giving participation and representation to the Muslims, they say it will increase communalism.

    The SP and BSP contested elections together, yet the BJP won. Muslims had given them votes. Where have all those votes gone?” he said.

    Owaisi said he has joined hands with Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party and other parties are also with them.

    On giving tickets to Hindus, Owaisi said, “The OBCs are our brothers, we will give tickets to Dalits also and they will win.

    Meanwhile, the BJP hit back at Owaisi, saying Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will not allow “Jinnah’s jihadi mentality” to flourish in Uttar Pradesh.

    “Giving protection to a notorious criminal like Atiq Ahmed in the name of providing protection to the community, inducting him and his wife in AIMIM shows Owaisi’s mentality.

    But keep in mind that Yogi Ji will not allow Jinnah’s johadi mentality to flourish in UP,” BJP Kannauj MP Subrat Pathak said in a tweet in Hindi.

    Owaisi, however, defended his decision to induct Ahmad, who has several criminal cases lodged against him, claiming that several BJP leaders are also facing several cases.

    A five-time legislator and one-time MP, Atiq Ahmad has more than 90 criminal cases, including those of murders, abductions, illegal mining, extortion, intimidation and fraud, against him.

    He is lodged in a Gujarat jail.

    He was shifted there from Uttar Pradesh on the Supreme Court’s directions in 2019.

    The Congress also questioned Owaisi’s move to begin his poll campaign from Ayodhya.

    “I came to know that AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi started his poll campaign in the state from Ayodhya. Though he does politics of minority, I was thinking that he would start his poll campaign from Deva Sharif (in Barabanki),” National Chairman of Congress’ Minorities Department Imran Pratapgarhi told PTI in Lucknow, ”

    “The entire UP knows that for whom he is contesting the polls. Though everyone has the right to contest polls, why is he contesting only on 100 seats and not on all the 403 Assembly seats in UP,” he said.

    (With PTI Inputs)

  • Owaisi sounds poll bugle in Ayodhya, party to contest 100 seats in UP

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: After inducting mafia don-turned politician Atiq Ahmad and his wife Shaista Parveen into All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) in Lucknow on Tuesday, party chief Asaduddin Owaisi moved to Rudauli in Ayodhya to sound the poll bugle in Uttar Pradesh for the 2022 Assembly elections.

    While Shaista Parveen took AIMIM membership in presence of Owaisi, her husband Atiq Ahmad, former SP MP, who is now in jail in connection with a number of criminal cases against him, joined the party in absentia.

    While talking to the media persons after the new joinings, Owaisi took on Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) claiming that both the regional parties had used Muslims as mere slaves and never accorded them their due in governance after winning elections.

    He justified the induction of Atiq Ahmad into AIMIM by saying that many BJP leaders were also facing several cases. “In UP, 37% BJP MLAs have criminal cases. Serious criminals cases have been lodged against 116 BJP MPs with most of them had cases related to crime against women,” Owaisi said.

    The AIMIM chief also claimed that his party was prepared till the booth level to contest 100 out of total of 403 assembly seats in UP in 2022.

    ALSO READ | Will ally only with small parties for Uttar Pradesh polls: Congress rules out tie-ups with SP, BSP

    “Muslims used to do ‘gulami’ (slavery) of Samajwadi Party and BSP and raise slogans in their favour and to make their government. But when it comes to giving them participation, they are forgotten and forsaken,” said Owaisi adding that so far Muslims had been making others to win polls but now it was time to fight the election and win for themselves.

    “When it comes to giving participation and representation to the Muslims, SP, BSP and AAP say it will increase communalism. The SP-BSP contested elections together, yet the BJP won. Muslims had given them votes. Where all those votes have gone?” he said.

    Asserting that his party’s only motive was to ensure BJP’s defeat, Owaisi said he was with Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) of OP Rajbhar and other smaller groups of the Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha. On giving tickets to Hindus, Owiasi said, “The OBCs are our brothers, we will give tickets to Dalits too and they will win.”

    Later in the day, Owaisi addressed a public rally in Rasulabad village in the Ayodhya district where he challenged the SP chief to hold a one-to-one debate with him on a public platform to prove his hollow promises done to Muslims of UP.

    Rasulabad village falls in Rudauli tehsil area in Ayodhya and it is the only Muslim-dominated constituency in Ayodhya.

    While announcing that AIMIM would contest the Rudauli seat, Owaisi urged the Muslims not to live in the shadows. “Have the Muzaffarnagar rioters been brought to justice? Why do Muslims in Ayodhya feel ashamed or apprehensive to even talk about the Babri demolition? All political parties have exploited Muslims and Dalits. Our party will hold majlis in every household,” said Owaisi at the public meeting.

  • Assembly polls: Asaduddin Owaisi to begin three-day UP visit from Ayodhya on September 7 

    By PTI

    AYODHYA: With the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections drawing close, AIMIM president Owaisi will begin a three-day visit to Uttar Pradesh from Ayodhya starting September 7, his party said on Friday.

    All India Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) state president Shaukat Ali told PTI that Owaisi will visit the mausoleum of 18th century Sufi Saint Sheikh Aalam Makhdoom Zada in Rudauli in Ayodhya district and hold a public meeting in the vicinity of the shrine on September 7.

    “On September 8 and 9, he will hold public meetings in Sultanpur and Barabanki, respectively,” he said.

    Secretary of Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation Athar Husain said, “Rudauli is a constituency from where Muslim candidates can win easily, but in the last two elections there was a division of votes because BSP fielded Muslim candidates against sitting SP MLA Rushdi Miyan.”

    “Now Owaisi may try to do the same in the coming elections,” he said.

    A local cleric, Mukhtar Ahmad, said, “Owaisi is the lone Muslim voice in India who has always raised Muslim issues in Parliament. First, we should listen to him, understand him and then form an opinion about him.”

    On Thursday, Owaisi told reporters in Hyderabad that his three-day visit to UP is just the beginning and he would go to many places in the state as elections are approaching.

    “We have to meet people. We have to go near people. We have to strengthen our cadre, get our candidates elected in the UP Assembly elections and defeat the Yogi (Adityanath) government,” he had said.

    Uttar Pradesh is slated to go to the polls early next year.

  • Man held for protesting against bangle seller incident has links with Pakistan: Madhya Pradesh government

    By PTI

    BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh government has found “evidence” that shows one of the men arrested in connection with a protest and for spreading inflammatory messages after the bangle seller incident in Indore has links with Pakistan through social media, state Home Minister Narottam Mishra said on Monday.

    He also claimed the arrested person, identified as Altamash Khan, is associated with the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) headed by Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi.

    Police arrested four persons, including Altamash Khan, on charges of spreading inflammatory messages on social media and conspiring to trigger riots in Indore city, on Saturday.

    “As per the evidence found (during the investigation), one of the arrested persons, Altamash Khan, who staged a protest at a police station (in Indore) after the bangle seller incident, has links with Pakistan through Whatsapp and Facebook,” Mishra told reporters.

    He said objectionable material, including videos and audios, were found from Khan which the latter had planned to release gradually.

    Mishra also said Khan is associated with the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) of Asaduddin Owaisi.

    “The objectionable material found with Khan was enough to disturb the peace in Madhya Pradesh. Interrogation of these four arrested people is underway,” he said.

    Police had said the arrested accused, identified as Altamash Khan, Mohammad Imran Ansari, Javed Khan and Syed Irfan Ali, all in the age group of 20 and 30 years, are inspired by a radical ideology.

    They spread inflammatory messages on social media related to a conspiracy to trigger communal riots at different places by creating a sense of discontent among people over some recent incidents in Indore city, police said.

    A case was registered against them under section 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion) along with other sections of the Indian Penal Code, police said.

    The bangle seller, Taslim Ali, was thrashed in Govind Nagar of Indore on August 22 for using a ‘fake” name while selling bangles to women in the locality.

    Four persons were arrested in connection with the assault.

    Ali was later arrested for allegedly touching a minor girl inappropriately and also for forgery, police had said.

  • Owaisi slams both BJP and Congress, says AIMIM to contest on 100 seats in Uttar Pradesh

    By Express News Service

    PATNA: Asaduddin Owaisi, the president of AIMIM, went all out against both the Congress party and the BJP terming them addicted to musical chair of power.

    Speaking at a function of a news channel, Owaisi vehemently castigated the BJP for not conducting the national census on castes.”Why is BJP not conducting the caste census, if it has genuine concern for the OBCs? Both the BJP and the Congress Party are scared of upper castes, that’s why they not speaking openly in support of caste census”, Owaisi said, joining the chorus of opposition and NDA’s three allies in Bihar demanding the caste census.

    Sharing his party’s election plan, Owaisi said that the AIMIM is preparing to contest on 100 seats in the forthcoming UP assembly elections.

    He said that the Muslims in UP are in urgent need of political empowerment to create an independent leadership of the community.

    Lashing out at SP leader Akhilesh Yadav, Owaisi said that Akhilesh Yadav only talks of “MY”(muslim Yadav) equation but when he goes in governance it turns out to be only Yadav.  He also lambasted at Akhilesh Yadav for not speaking when 20 minority people lost their lives during the CAA protest .

    Owaisi flatly denied that the AIMIM has been acting like B-team of BJP and said that the BJP will try to use the Afghanistan-Taliban situation in the UP elections .

  • ‘He should tell about the health services in UP’: Owaisi’s Laila-Majnu jibe at Adityanath

    He said in the state which sent PM Narendra Modi to the Lok Sabha twice, three to four lakh families lost their near and dear ones to Covid in the second wave.

  • Secular parties not giving enough tickets to Muslims: AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi

    By Express News Service
    HYDERABAD:  Hyderabad MP and AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi found fault with the Congress party for supporting the Anti-cow slaughter Bill in Haryana and the Shiv Sena for enabling the Citizenship Amendment Act.

    He accused the country’s ‘secular parties’ of not giving enough number of tickets to Muslim candidates, unless they constituted at least 35 per cent of the electorate of a given constituency. Speaking at a virtual event hosted by ISB-Hyderabad as part of their Leadership Summit, Owaisi said that Indians were disillusioned and there was no difference between the BJP and non-BJP parties.

    Political commentator and analyst Sanjaya Baru and Shiv Sena deputy leader and Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi were also panel members for the session. Baru stressed the need for an alternative ideological framework to counter the BJP.

    Chaturvedi said that the Opposition at the national level was fragmented, lacked coherence and the leaders of the ‘largest Opposition party’ were busy fighting amongst themselves.

  • UP polls: Asaduddin Owaisi to address Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha’s first rally in Moradabad

    By PTI
    BALLIA (Uttar Pradesh): Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar on Friday said the newly-constituted Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha, a coalition of smaller parties, will hold its first rally in Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad on July 15 to strengthen the alliance.

    “I have met AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi yesterday and we discussed ways to strengthen the Morcha. On July 15, we will be holding a rally in Moradabad. It will be addressed by me and Owaisi. Our next rally will be in Banda,” Rajbhar told PTI.

    When asked about reports that he visited Sayed Salar Masood Ghazi’s ‘mazar’ in Bahraich with Owaisi, Rajbhar said that he did not go there with the AIMIM leader.

    “I was there with Owaisi at his party office opening there. Owaisi visited the mazar and he is free to go anywhere. I did no go with him,” he said.

    The AIMIM had recently announced that it would contest 100 seats in the UP Assembly polls early next year in alliance with Rajbhar-led Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha, a front of smaller parties.