Farmers Movement Archive

AIMIM begins UP poll campaign: Owaisi slams BJP, says ‘Muslims harassed in UP’

Lucknow: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday said his party’s main aim was to ensure the defeat of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, even as he attacked successive governments led by the Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Congress for the poor plight of Muslims in the state. Launching the party’s poll campaign at Rudauli town in Ayodhya district on Tuesday, Owaisi said the AIMIM was ready to discuss pre-poll alliance with the SP or BSP, but the talk will be over the share of the Muslim community if the alliance came to the power in Uttar Pradesh. “Muslims constitute 19% population of UP whereas Yadav community leader becomes CM though they are mere 9% of the population. The Muslims are denied government jobs,” he said. Restricted to Hyderabad in Telangana for much of its 93-year-old existence , the party has, in recent years, expanded to Maharashtra and Bihar. It also tried to expand to West Bengal where it could not make a dent in this year’s assembly elections. “The Muslims in UP are harassed and exploited. They have been denied a share in the power, education and basic facilities. They have been denied justice. The Muslim community in UP is leaderless and no political party is interested in addressing the grievances of the Muslims. The interest of political parties is in the vote of the Muslim community,” he added“The Muslim community believed in the false promises made by the SP, BSP and Congress. Due to the support of the Muslims, their leaders became prime minister and chief minister. Today, the Muslims in UP are feeling cheated as they have been dumped by the parties who sought their vote in the name of secularism,” added the four-time Lok Sabha MP. Elections to the 403-seat Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly are scheduled for early next year. Earlier in the day, jailed gangster and former MP Atiq Ahmad and his wife Shaista Praveen joined the AIMIM in presence of Owaisi. A five-time legislator and one-time MP, Ahmad has more than 90 criminal cases, including those related to murder against him. He is lodged in a Gujarat jail. He was shifted there from Uttar Pradesh on the Supreme Court’s directions in 2019. Defending his decision to induct Ahmad, who has several criminal cases lodged against him, Owaisi asserted that even several BJP leaders face similar cases. “In UP, 37% of BJP MLAs have criminal cases; 116 BJP MPs have serious criminal cases and most of them have cases related to crime against women,” Owaisi said. The ruling BJP, however, sharply reacted to his assertion and the development. “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 Owais’ mentality. But keep in mind that Yogi Ji will not allow Jinnah’s jehadi mentality to flourish in UP,” BJP Kannauj MP Subrat Pathak said in a tweet in Hindi. The AIMIM chief will address a ‘vanchit-shoshit samaj’ (deprived and victimised communities) conference in Sultanpur on Wednesday and in Barabanki a day later. The AIMIM has announced that it will field candidates for 100 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh. It has also joined an alliance of smaller political parties to form Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha; this includes the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) led by Om Prakash Rajbhar, Jan Adhikar Party led by Babu Singh Kushwaha, Rashtriya Uday Party led by Babu Rampal, Rashtriya Upekshit Samaj Party led by Premchanda Prajapati, and Janata Kranti Party led by Anil Singh Chauhan.Accusing the AIMIM chief of speaking the “language of the BJP”, Samajwadi Party state unit spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said, “The Samajwadi Party has worked for the welfare and uplift of the Muslim community. The Muslim community in UP are with SP, they will not be misguided with the allegations of Owaisi.”UP Congress committee spokesperson Surendra Rajput said Owaisi has neither launched a movement over the Covid-19 mismanagement by the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh nor has he made his stand clear over the farmers’ protest over three farm laws. “On the direction of the BJP, he has come to UP to divide the Muslim community. The AIMIM is not interested in the welfare of the Muslim community in UP but it wants to disturb the communal harmony,” Rajput said.BSP state unit president Bhim Rajbhar said Owaisi has come to UP when the assembly elections are near. “He did not visit UP when the Muslim community were harassed by the ruling BJP. The BSP government has worked for the welfare of the Muslim community, several schemes for the Muslims were launched when BSP chief Mayawati was chief minister,” Rajbhar said.

Hindustan Times

08-09-2021

India