News Analysis India

Tag: Asaduddin Owaisi

  • ‘Unemployment most burning issue in country’: Varun Gandhi hits out at Centre again

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Noting that unemployment is the most burning issue in the country, BJP MP Varun Gandhi on Monday appreciated AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi for mentioning him while raising the issue in a speech.

    Gandhi, who has often put the government in a dock over a host of issues, posted a video of a speech of the fiery Hyderabad MP who cited a large number of vacancies in different sectors of government and added that the figures were first quoted by the BJP leader.

    “Unemployment today is the country’s most burning issue, and leaders from across the country should draw the government’s attention to this. Unemployed youths should be given justice. Only then the country will grow strong,” Gandhi tweeted.

    He said he was thankful to Owaisi for mentioning the questions raised by him over the issue in his address.

  • Owaisi demands Nupur Sharma’s arrest, says violence should be shunned

    By PTI

    BHUJ: AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday said that suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma should be arrested for her controversial remarks about Prophet Mohammad.

    While stating that nobody should indulge in violence over the issue nor should police take law in their hands, he accused the BJP of not taking timely action against Sharma after her comments during a TV debate triggered a huge controversy.

    “Nupur Sharma is not being arrested. As per the law, she should be arrested. She has not been arrested for so many days. Why don’t you arrest her and take legal action against her? Who is stopping you?” Owaisi asked, speaking to reporters here.

    The BJP’s action of suspending her for violating the party’s constitution did not resolve the issue, and one should “also think of the Indian Constitution,” the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief said.

    “Take action against her, arrest her as per the law. We demand that she be arrested and action be taken against her as per the law. Had BJP been serious, it would have told her then and there (that her statements were objectionable), but it took ten days to do so,” he said.

    Sharma’s apology over the remarks was not enough, Owaisi said. “We do not need an apology. Law should take its course,” he added.

    Asked about the violence reported from different cities during protests against Sharma’s remarks, including the incidents in Ranchi where two persons were killed in police firing, Owaisi said nobody should indulge in violence.

    “It is vital for democracy that there is no violence. It is the government’s responsibility to not allow violence and try its best to stop it. Police should also not take law in their hands. Yesterday, two people died in police firing in Ranchi. This should not happen,” said the Hyderabad MP.

    Asked about a statement by AIMIM’s Aurangabad MP Imtiaz Jaleel that Sharma should be “hanged” for her remarks, Owaisi said the party’s stand was clear that she should be arrested as per the law. “This is the party’s stand which everybody will have to follow,” he added.

    As to how many seats the party would be contesting in the Gujarat Assembly elections which are due this year, Owaisi said it was being worked out.

  • Fringe is mainstream, backed by Amit Shah, why no arrest, questions Owaisi on Prophet remark

    By PTI

    HYDERABAD: AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday said action against suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma for her alleged derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammad should have been taken 10 days ago.

    He said he had sought action against the spokesperson while addressing a public meeting at Bhiwandi. The BJP took action as the issue was getting escalated in Gulf countries, he said.

    “You should have taken action 10 days before. When, I, as an Indian citizen, I am a Muslim, we are demanding that you take action, you don’t take action. Why the Prime Minister has not taken action. Is Asaduddin Owaisi’s demand, voice is less than that of a leader of a foreign country,” he told reporters here.

    “You are my Prime Minister. You should listen to me. You want to make leaders of foreign countries happy,” he said, asking as to who will listen to “our” pain.

    “Twenty crore Indian Muslims’ religious beliefs were insulted. Rather than addressing their concerns, Modi et al were more afraid of a foreign backlash. Very unfortunate,” he tweeted earlier.

    Owaisi claimed suspension of the spokesperson from party is not enough and that she should be arrested.

    He alleged that the spokesperson has released a video in which she claimed that senior BJP leaders have called her and told her not to lose courage.

    “FRINGE is MAINSTREAM. Backed by none less than @AmitShah. Is this why cops still haven’t arrested anyone? Suspension is a sham. Chota Savarkars were smug because of govt support. If Genocide Sansad gang was punished, BJP spokies wouldn’t have insulted Prophet PBUH on natl TV,” he tweeted.

    The BJP on Sunday suspended its national spokesperson Nupur Sharma and expelled its Delhi media head Naveen Kumar Jindal as the row over their alleged derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammad escalated with protests from some Muslim countries.

    Responding to a query on the alleged gangrape of a teenage girl in Hyderabad, Owaisi said it is a heinous crime and that “the law will take its own course.”

    The BJP in Telangana has earlier referred to media reports on the alleged involvement of kin of politically influential persons belonging to the AIMIM vis-à-vis the sensational case.

  • ‘Stop making provocative remarks’: priests’ body to Hindu, Muslim groups amid Gyanvapi row

    By PTI

    MATHURA: A body of temple priests has urged Hindu and Muslim groups not to give provocative statements, saying it would adversely hit the tourism sector in Mathura and Varanasi.

    “After spoiling the atmosphere in Varanasi and Mathura, not only ‘Tirath Purohits’ (priests) will suffer but traders and people engaged directly or indirectly in the tourist industry would also suffer,” Mahesh Pathak, national president of the Akhil Bharatiya Tirath Purohit Mahasabha, said while talking to reporters here.

    He said already the economy of both cities have been hit badly by the covid pandemic.

    He condemned alleged provocative statements by AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi.

    According to the priest body head, Hindus are also not lagging behind in making such statement.

    As their statements may spoil the atmosphere, these should be stopped, he said.

    Owaisi on Monday asserted he will not let the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, where a court-mandated videography survey has been completed, meet the fate of the Babri Masjid that was demolished in December 1992.

    The Lok Sabha MP from Hyderabad said he will continue to speak on the Gyanvapi masjid issue, which he termed as an attempt to weaken the Constitution, as he was not scared of either Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath.

    Addressing a rally at Vadgam in Gujarat, where Assembly polls are due by the year-end, Owaisi said the accusation that the AIMIM by fielding its candidates will hurt the chances of the opposition Congress to win the elections in the BJP-ruled state was misplaced.

    The president of the Hyderabad-based All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) said people question him for speaking on the issue of Gyanvapi mosque.

    “I will speak because I have not sold my ‘jameer’ (conscience), nor will I ever do so. I speak because I am only scared of Allah and not any Modi or Yogi. I speak because the Constitution that was framed by Babasaheb Ambedkar gives me the freedom of expression,” he said.

    The AIMIM leader said he will not let the Gyanvapi mosque meet the fate of the Babri masjid in Ayodhya that was demolished nearly three decades ago.

    Owaisi said he will not be deterred by criticism directed at him for protesting against the court order directing a survey of the medieval-era mosque in Varanasi.

    “I am pained (by the survey) because the Indian Constitution is being weakened, the judgement of the Supreme Court is being ignored, and those who question me should read section 4(2) of the 1991 law (the Places of Worship Act),” he said.

    The Act prohibits filing of any suit or initiating any other legal proceeding for a conversion of the religious character of any place of worship, as existing on August 15, 1947.

    A court on Monday directed the Varanasi district administration to seal the spot in the Gyanvapi masjid complex where a Shivling was reportedly found during a court-mandated videography survey, which concluded after three days.

    The mosque is located close to the iconic Kashi Vishwanath temple and the Varanasi court is hearing a plea by a group of women seeking permission for daily prayers before the idols on its outer walls.

    Owaisi said “bhakts of Godse (Nathuram Godse, the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi)” are spreading hatred in the country against Muslims by invoking issues like hijab, job jihad and others.

    The AIMIM leader sought people’s support for his party for the upcoming elections and said the Congress, which is out of power in the state for nearly three decades now, was not in a position to speak on behalf of Muslims of Gujarat.

    “People say Owaisi and the AIMIM (by contesting polls) will benefit the BJP. I would like to ask the Congress party as to when you last formed a government in Gujarat? Owaisi and the AIMIM were not there all these years, so why were you defeated?” he asked.

    The Lok Sabha MP questioned the Congress over defection of its MLAs to the ruling BJP and having only three Muslim legislators in its fold in a House of 182.

    “Remember, you (Muslims) cannot change the government, but using your votes, you can help our representatives win and go to the Gujarat Vidhan Sabha to become your voice,” he said.

    Owaisi is in Gujarat to make preparations for the Assembly elections.

    He has said the AIMIM intends to contest the upcoming polls and the party is in the process of figuring out the seats on which it will field its candidates.

    His visit comes at a time when several office-bearers of the Gujarat AIMIM have quit their posts accusing the state unit of working for the benefit of the BJP.

  • Asaduddin Owaisi suggests installing cameras at religious places to identify trouble-makers during processions

    By PTI

    HYDERABAD: AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday suggested that high-resolution cameras can be installed at religious places and a live telecast can be done whenever any religious procession passes through the locality so that trouble-makers can be identified.

    “I am saying that all religious places, especially masjids and dargahs, must install high-resolution cameras and whenever a religious procession is passing through these places of worship, they should open their social media website and do a live telecast,” he told reporters here.

    People would come to know the truth when they watch live proceedings of the event whenever any religious procession is taken out, he said, adding that Muslims are routinely blamed for problems during communal incidents.

    On his delayed reaction to the recent suspected honour killing incident in Hyderabad in which a Hindu man was alleged killed by the relatives of his Muslim wife, Owaisi said the media cannot dictate him and that he would react according to his wish.

    He has earlier condemned the incident.

    On Congress leader Rahul Gandhi visiting Telangana and the Congress trying to regain strength in the state, he referred to a video in which Gandhi allegedly asked for what should be the content of his speech.

    “If you don’t know what message you want to give to Telangana people and why they should support you, how you will be able to challenge TRS,” he said.

    On Gandhi reportedly challenging the ruling TRS, BJP and also AIMIM, he said the Congress leader may lose his Wayanad parliamentary seat in Kerala and that he can try his luck in Hyderabad, Secunderabad or Medak in Telangana.

  • Ram Navami violence: Gujarat cops have booked innocent people, says AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi

    By PTI

    AHMEDABAD: AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday alleged that the men whom the Gujarat police have booked for allegedly attacking a Ram Navami procession in Khambhat town were innocent as they were performing namaz when the incident took place.

    Speaking on the communal clashes in Himmatnagar and Khambhat towns that took place following altercations during Ram Navami processions on March 10, Owaisi said the BJP-led state government failed to maintain law and order.

    “A Gujarat AIMIM (All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen) team had visited Khambhat town after the violence. They learnt that those who were booked by the police were busy offering namaz when the incident took place. And it was the state government’s responsibility to see that the procession passes off peacefully,” Owaisi told reporters here.

    “If you go through the past inquiry reports on such incidents, it was written that violence will take place if the state wants it and violence will never take place if the state does not. Hence, it was the state government that failed to establish law and order,” the Hyderabad MP said.

    Owaisi was in Gujarat to take stock of the state unit of the party’s preparedness for the upcoming Assembly polls to be held in December this year. “I am of the opinion that action must be taken against the guilty. But there should not be a media trial, because it is shown that stones were hurled by the people of the minority community. Show it if there is concrete evidence. Otherwise, a media trial must not happen,” he added.

    On Wednesday, police in Anand district had said that communal violence in Khambhat town on Ram Navami was a “pre-planned conspiracy” hatched by a “sleeper module” to achieve the dominance of Muslim community in the town.

    Police have already arrested 11 persons for their alleged involvement in hatching the conspiracy of the violence.

    Anand district SP Ajit Rajian had said that the perpetrators had planned to attack the procession and spread violence with the aim to teach the members of Hindu community a lesson to not take out any such procession in the future.

    A senior citizen was killed and another injured in the violence which broke out after a Ram Navami procession came under attack on Sunday. On the same day, similar clashes erupted in Himmatnagar town of Sabarkantha district.

  • AIMIM ready to ally with NCP and Congress; we are not ‘B’ team of BJP: Imtiaz Jaleel

    By PTI

    AURANGABAD: The AIMIM is willing to ally with NCP and Congress, which are constituents of the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, party MP Imtiaz Jaleel said, adding the Asaduddin Owaisi-led party is not the ‘B’ team of BJP as alleged by mainstream parties.

    Jaleel said he spoke about the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen’s willingness to tie up when state minister and NCP leader Rajesh Tope visited his residence on Friday.

    “Tope visited me on Friday, days after lost my mother due to an illness. It is always alleged that Bharatiya Janata Party wins because of us (AIMIM- due to splitting of Muslim votes). To prove this allegation wrong I proposed to Tope that we are ready for an alliance. However, he didn’t say anything about my offer,” Jaleel, who heads the Maharashtra unit of AIMIM, told reporters on Friday night.

    Now we want to see whether these are just allegations against AIMIM or they (Congress and NCP) are ready to join hands with us, he added.

    Queried about the likely stand of Shiv Sena regarding AIMIM’s offer, the Aurangabad MP avoided a direct reply.

    “The fact is that these parties want votes of Muslims. Why only NCP? The Congress also says they are secular and they also want votes of Muslims. We are ready to join hands with them too. The BJP has done the maximum damage to this country. We are ready to do everything to defeat them,” the AIMIM leader said.

    He said the AIMIM had also spoken (about a tie-up) with the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh (polls), but they wanted votes of Muslims and not Asaduddin Owaisi, who heads the party.

    “In Maharashtra also, these parties (Congress and NCP) want votes of Muslims but not the AIMIM. You blame us for BJP’s victory. I propose that then let us contest the elections together,” he said.

    When asked whether the proposal for an alliance is limited for the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation, Jaleel said that the future action depends upon the response AIMIM gets from NCP and Congress.

    “Otherwise we can go alone. We are giving them a chance (to ally) as they call us the ‘B’ team (of BJP),” he said.

    AIMIM had won two seats in the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections.

    On Hindutva leader Sambhaji Bhide’s recent remarks about Islam, Jaleel said the former can be compared with Mumbai attack terrorist Ajmal Kasab.

    “Kasab used a gun to weaken India and this man is using vitriol. No religion is bad. People who follow that religion can be good or bad. This person is not worth calling ‘Guruji’,” Jaleel said.

  • Karnataka HC verdict against Hijab suspends fundamental rights: Asaduddin Owaisi

    By Express News Service

    HYDERABAD: While expressing disagreement with Karnataka High Court’s verdict on Hijab row, AIMIM chief and MP Asaduddin Owaisi felt that the court has suspended fundamental rights to freedom of religion, culture, freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under the Constitution. 

    In a series of tweets, Hyderabad MP felt that it’s time to review the essential religious practice test. “For a devout person, everything is essential & for an atheist nothing is essential. For a devout Hindu Brahmin, janeu is essential but for a non-Brahmin, it may not be. It is absurd that judges can decide essentiality,” he noted. 

    Owaisi felt that banning headscarf definitely harms devout Muslim women and their families as it prevents them from ‘accessing education’. “The excuse being used is that uniform will ensure uniformity. How? Will kids not know who’s from a rich/poor family? Do caste names not denote background?,” he wondered. 

    ALSO READ | Karnataka hijab row: Students yet to decide about future action post HC verdict

    AIMIM chief alleged that the order means that one religion has been targeted and its religious practice has been banned. He held that Article 15 prohibits discrimination based on religion. “Is this not a violation of the same? In short HC order has forced kids to choose between education & Allah’s commands. When Ireland’s govt changed the rules for police uniforms to allow hijab and Sikh turban, the Modi govt welcomed it. So why double standards at home & abroad? Hijab and turbans of the uniform’s colours can allow being worn,” he argued.

    He hoped that the petitioners would challenge this verdict in the Supreme Court. 

  • Yogi, Akhilesh two sides of same coin: Owaisi attacks Samajwadi Party, BJP

    By PTI

    FARRUKHABAD: AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday dubbed Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav as “two sides of the same coin”.

    Owaisi, the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief and Hyderabad MP, made the remark while addressing an election rally here.

    “Yogi (Adityanath) and Akhilesh (Yadav) are two sides of the same coin,” said Owaisi while seeking votes for the candidates of Bhagidari Parivartan Morcha so that former UP minister Babu Singh Kushwaha could be made the UP CM.

    While likening Akhilesh Yadav to Yogi Adityanath, Owaisi did not explain how the two leaders were similar.

    He, however, had been asserting in the past that both Akhilesh Yadav and his father Mulayam Singh Yadav could become UP CMs on “charity votes” of 19 per cent Muslims, far outnumbering the votes of nine per cent Yadavs.

    The Bhagidari Parivartan Morcha was launched as a pre-poll alliance of AIMIM with little-known Jan Adhikar Party of former Uttar Pradesh minister Babu Singh Kushwaha and an all-India body of government employees of the backward, Dalits and minority community, founded by Kanshi Ram in the 1970s.

    Farrukhabad goes to the polls in the third phase of the seven-phase UP assembly elections and votes on February 20.

    While addressing the meeting, Owaisi termed elections as a battle for social justice and said, “We have to win this battle (for social justice) through voting.”

    Attacking the BJP, he accused the party of meting out step-motherly treatment to Farrukhabad district.

    Despite all the MLAs of the district belonging to the BJP, no development work was carried out by this double-engine government in the district, Owaisi alleged.

    Owaisi had launched the new pre-poll front, Bhagidari Parivartan Morcha on January 22, promising two chief ministers and three deputy chief ministers for Uttar Pradesh, if the new front is voted to power.

    Out of the two CMs, one will belong to the backward classes and the other to the Dalit community, he said, adding the state will also have three Dy CMs, with one belonging to the Muslim community.

    Owaisi, however, had offered no explanation under what provision of the Constitution he will have two CMs for a state.

  • A girl in hijab will be country’s PM one day: Asaduddin Owaisi

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: A girl wearing Hijab will become the prime minister of the country one day, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi has said amid the controversy over Muslim women’s headscarves.

    “If a girl decides to wear Hijab and asks her parents to do so and when her parents allow her to wear it, who can stop her from wearing it? We will see it, Inshaallah Owaisi is heard saying in a 43-second video of his address in an election rally.

    “The girls will wear hijab, will wear Niqab and go to colleges and become doctors, collectors, SDMs and businessmen,” Owaisi was heard saying in the video, shared on his Twitter handle.

    “You all keep in mind, perhaps when I am not alive, a girl wearing a hijab will become the prime minister of this country one day,” he added.

    The hijab row started in Karnataka in December-end when a few students of a government pre-university college in Udupi, attending classes in headscarves, were asked to leave the campus.

    The matter then spread to different parts of the state, with youngsters, backed by right-wing outfits, responding by wearing saffron scarves.

    With the protests taking a violent turn at some places earlier this week, the state government on Tuesday declared a three-day holiday for the institutions.

    Hyderabad MP Owaisi’s party All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen is fighting the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections as part of the Bhagidari Parivartan Morcha, its pre-poll alliance with little-known Jan Adhikar Party of former state minister Babu Singh Kushwaha and an all-India body of government employees of the backward, Dalits and minority community.