Owaisi draws contrast between Hindus, Muslims in UP; claims to be propagator of secularism

In the run-up to the 2022 Assembly polls, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday affirmed that he is a propagator of secularism. Owaisi made the statement while addressing an event in Aligarh, in which he drew a sharp contrast between the treatment of Muslims to that of Hindus in the country. 

"The workers of the RSS, BJP come and ask Muslims as to they want to fight against them. I just want to ask BJP and RSS why shouldn't Muslims fight against them when they are hell-bent on making this country a Hindu Rashtra," said Asaduddin Owaisi. The AIMIM chief added," If we start working towards making this country a Muslim Rashtra, then the Hindus won't take it and allegations will be levelled against us. However, we won't as we are super nationalist and we celebrate the secularism in India." 

In Uttar Pradesh, Muslims have never been valued as much as Hindus

Further during the event, Asaduddin Owaisi referred to the statement of Amit Shah who is presently in Uttar Pradesh and is campaigning with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Amit Shah had differentiated with the JAM in the PM Modi era and JAM in the era before him, and said, "Under PM Modi, JAM means Jan Dhan Bank accounts, Aadhar cards and Mobile for everyone while before him it was Jinnah, Azam Khan and Mukhtar Ansari." 

"Had you been valued Amit Shah would not have made such a distasteful comment, people like Azam Khan would not have been jailed and your mosque would have been protected," said the AIMIM chief, urging the Muslim population to vote for Muslims just like Hindus vote for Hindus."

2022 UP polls 

With BJP fighting under the leadership of incumbent CM Yogi Adityanath, several fronts have cropped up to challenge the ruling BJP. SP chief Akhilesh Singh Yadav has stated that SP will only ally with smaller political parties for the 2022 Assembly polls, holding talks with Mahan Dal, NCP, SBSP. Mayawati has already announced that her party will fight polls alone in UP and Uttarakhand while allying only with Akali Dal in Punjab. Congress has aggressively campaigned under the leadership of Priyanka Gandhi in the state, eyeing its solo return.

Parties like AAP, Shiv Sena, Azad Samaj Party and JDU have announced that they will be contesting for the UP polls. While AIMIM and Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party were eyeing an alliance with Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj, its chief Om Prakash Rajbhar has announced his support for the Samajwadi Party. Both BJP and SP have vowed to win over 400 seats.

Image: PTI