Asaduddin Owaisi takes a dig at PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi

HYDERABAD: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi strongly reacted to the incident in which the beard of a Muslim man was forcefully shaved off by three persons earlier this month. “I am telling those who did it, I tell them and their fathers, even if you slit our throats we will remain Muslims. We will convert you to Islam and make you keep a beard.” he asserted at a public meeting.

On Thursday last, three people in Haryana’s Gurgaon district allegedly dragged a Muslim man to a salon and forced him to shave off his beard. The three accused have been arrested. Since 2014 when the BJP came into power, there has been an 86% rise in mob lynchings and 96% of the victims were Muslims who were killed in the name of cow protection.  

Since 2014 when the BJP came into power, there has been an 86% rise in mob lynchings and 96% of the victims were Muslims who were killed in the name of cow protection.  The culprits showed regard for the right to life of a cow but not of a human being. “Muslims are being targeted in the name of cow, but PM Narendra Modi is keeping mum.” he pointed out. Mr. Owaisi also took a dig at the Congress President Rahul Gandhi over his hand shake with the PM.

“A No-Confidence Motion was moved against Mr Modi and they (Rahul Gandhi) hugged the same person against whom they moved the motion. If I had gone and shaken hands with Mr Modi, a fatwa would have been issued against me. But when he (Rahul Gandhi) hugged Mr Modi, Congressmen didn’t utter a word.” he said. “Before Hitler sent 10-20 lakh Jews to concentration camps, many Jews embraced him. Despite that, the Jews were killed in gas chambers. So Congress should drop the charade.”

Speaking in a lighter vein, the AIMIM chief also gave his tongue-in-cheek take on the hug. “As both of them do not have anyone to hug in their homes, they go around hugging people outside. From Turkey’s Erdogan to Abu Dhabi’s ruler, Modi hugs everyone on foreign tours. That is why marriage is so important.” Mr Owaisi said.

Owaisi vowed that not only would he win the Hyderabad seat in the next general elections, but would also snatch the Secunderabad seat from the BJP. Owaisi dared the BJP government at the Centre to conduct survey under the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Mizoram and Jammu & Kashmir.  He lambasted the BJP Chief Amit Shah for branding 40 lakh people excluded from the draft list of NRC in Assam as 'infiltrators' and challenged the BJP government to take up the exercise in other states. He recalled media reports that the present Tripura CM was born in 1971 in Bangladesh.