Asaduddin Owaisi frowns upon CM Yogi's 'Abba Jaan' jibe; counters 'appeasement' narrative

Hitting out at Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath for using 'Abba Jaan' AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi accused the former of lying. Addressing a gathering on September 12, the UP CM alleged that "those who called Abba Jaan used to favour one community" implying that his predecessor Akhilesh Yadav appeased Muslims. Speaking to the media in Patna, Owaisi countered the 'appeasement' narrative and pointed out that Muslims in UP fared dismally on most socio-economic indicators including education and health.

The Hyderabad MP stated, "Accusing Adityanath of lying, Why does he say things like this? And then to the use the word 'Abba Jaan'? What did you do to control the dropout rate of Muslims? There is a 60% dropout rate among Muslims in Uttar Pradesh. 2% of Muslims are graduates, 3% pass the 12th standard exam."

Claiming that only 10 Muslims were sanctioned houses under the aegis of the PM Awas Yojana in 2017-18, the AIMIM supremo contended that Adityanath was trying to seek validation of a certain community in the garb of playing politics on 'Abba Jaan'. He added, "According to the Central government, Uttar Pradesh has the least number of doctors in Primary Health Centres. A total of 2277 posts of doctors are lying vacant. If you had done work, you would not have been compelled to shout 'Abba, Abba'". 

AIMIM's thrust on UP polls

In the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, BJP won a whopping 312 seats in the 403-member House, whereas BSP could win only 19 seats. On the other hand, the SP-Congress alliance failed to bear fruit as it could win in only 54 constituencies. While this was seen as a mandate for PM Modi as BJP had not declared any CM candidate, Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath was a surprise pick for the post.

For the upcoming Assembly polls, AIMIM has joined the 'Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha' which is being led by Om Prakash Rajbhar. It comprises 9 other parties including the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party, the Apna Dal faction of Krishna Patel, Rashtroday Party, Rashtriya Bhagidari Party and Janta Kranti Party. Owaisi's strong counter to the UP CM on the 'Abba Jaan' jibe assumes significance as his party intends to contest 100 seats in the state. 

Amid some opposition leaders in UP attracting controversy for their support to the Taliban, the AIMIM president stressed, "If the Narendra Modi government has guts, it should declare the Taliban as a terrorist organization. It should be included in the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. India is the chairman of the UN Sanctions Committee. India should not delist the 100 Taliban leaders. The government should give an assurance to the nation in this regard."