Hyderabad: MIM former legislature Akbaruddin Owaisi said he was proud to be an Indian and feel pride in being a Muslim.
Addressing a gathering at Riyasatnagar in Chandrayangutta constituency, Mr Owaisi said, “I am brought on this soil. No one has the right to doubt on my loyalty to this country. I have the same rights on this country as Mr Narendra Modi and Mr Rahul Gandhi.”
“People in the ruling party never considered me as an Indian, but based on my religious identity. This bias resulted in injustice to Muslims for the past 70 years. When we raise voice against the injustice, they blame us that we are doing politics of religion and hatred. We are being discriminated over religion,” he said.
Mr Akbaruddin said it was his prime duty to strive for the rights of the weak and downtrodden in the society. “If we are working for the betterment of the backward classes in the society, why are they giving it a religious colour? In our institutions, Hindus, Mus-lims, Sikhs and Christians are treated equally,” he said.
He said the agenda of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP was limited to Hindus, Hindutva and Hindu Rashtra, while in his and his party's agenda was Hindustan, Hindustani and the prosperity and development of all Indians. “No other political party has hospitals, educational institutions and welfare organisations as Majlis has. These assets are not heritable,” he added.
