Asaduddin Owaisi ANI_20260920272
Firebrand national president of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen ( AIMIM ) Asaduddin Owaisi in an exclusive interview with TOI says political parties in UP don’t want to take responsibility for the prevailing condition of Muslims:
When Muzaffarnagar happened, there were 47 Muslim MLAs in SP and a Muslim seniormost minister was in charge of that area but still we saw highest number of people being displaced after Partition. BJP follows Hindutva ideology and has been ruling UP for last 11 years. How have they won five elections since 2014? Even if I accept the charge that AIMIM ends up helping BJP, these political parties (SP and Congress ) and their allies contested 400 assembly seats in these elections, the responsibility of defeating the BJP rests on whom? Rahul Gandhi lost Amethi in 2019 elections.
Because of me, is it. Because of my speeches, was it.
I have said it earlier and repeat it again. A letter was delivered to RJD’s Tejashvi Yadav after he told media that he hasn’t got the letter. One cannot see the marginalisation and political disempowerment of Muslim community in isolation. People who are blaming AIMIM do not know the UP’s history. Starting from GB Pant down to Yogi Adityanath , irrespective of the party and the chief minister, no one was interested in ensuring that Muslims were treated as citizen with rights. They have been reduced to mere voters. Even at the time of Pt Jawaharlal Nehru, the fatalities of Muslims were on the higher side during communal riots. So questions will have to be asked, no matter how uncomfortable it makes some politicians. How can one not talk about what happened during the Eid namaz in Moradabad? It was worse than Jallianwala Bagh. Can one conveniently forget what happened in Hashimpura and Maliana? Can one forget Muzaffarnagar (riots)? If one wants to forget and not talk about all these things, then that is not done. No. BJP has to be attacked and exposed for what it has done. I have never shied away from criticising BJP for atrocities. I was the first one to attack BJP when Atiq Ahmed and his brother were killed in judicial custody. I have vociferously condemned fake encounters. A wrong is a wrong, irrespective of which party committed it. When I hold every govt and chief minister right from GB Pant down to Yogi Adityanath answerable for issues plaguing UP, does that leave out any party or CM? I will love to debate this charge. How has Narendra Modi been sworn in as the prime minister thrice.? These so-called secular parties have failed to stop BJP’s victory march. How do you explain polarisation when you lose Maharashtra assembly elections, and when you lose Madhya Pradesh assembly polls? AIMIM has been outside the INDIA bloc but we were open to alliance in Bihar and the same goes for UP assembly polls. To keep the BJP away from forming the govt for the third consecutive time, we are open to alliance with like-minded parties. But our initiative should not be seen as a sign of weakness. We have contested election after election irrespective of whether we had an alliance or not and will continue to do so, irrespective of the resistance from parties which treat Muslims are their Jagir of votes. Let me clarify about Bihar. There we made the first move at the behest of some Muslim intellectuals. We sent letters to RJD, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, responsible people in CPI & CPI-ML. All of this is in public domain. But they never talked alliance.