Gyanvapi row: Amit Malviya slams Owaisi for communalising issue; calls him a 'hypocrite'

Launching a scathing attack on All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi for his continuous opposition to the Gyanvapi mosque survey and the court's order, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Amit Malviya accused Owaisi of communalising the issue. 

Malviya also referred to the demolition of two mosques in Hyderabad from where Owaisi is an MP and questioned why he was silent at the time. Taking a jibe at Owaisi's "Gyanvapi masjid, masjid thi, aur qayamat tak rahegi Insha'Allah" remark, Malviya further asked, "Wahan qayamat tak masjid nahi rehni chahiye thi?"

Malviya did not stop there and in another tweet called Owaisi a communal bigot and a hypocrite saying that he "peddles lies planted with fascist media." 

"He runs away from journalists, who ask him “questions”, engages only those who allow him to make vile charges and whip up a frenzy. He has no locus standi on the Gyanvapi Mandir issue", he further tweeted.

Owaisi's opposition to the Gyanvapi survey

Notably, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi has been speaking over the Gyanvapi mosque row criticizing the survey that has been carried out at the mosque following which a 'Shivling' was said to have been discovered inside the complex.

Later, the Varanasi court had ordered the area to be sealed further barring people from entering. However, Owaisi while commenting on it called it a "wrong decision". Further comparing the development of the Gyanvapi mosque with the Babri Masjid case, he said that Muslims won't allow what happened in Ayodhya to happen again. He said that Muslims are not ready to lose another mosque after the Babri Masjid.

In a tweet, referring to the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya three decades ago and a 1949 incident when idols of Hindu deities surfaced there, Owaisi asked Muslims to take a pledge that they won’t allow its repeat in Varanasi.

(Image: ANI/PTI/AP)