Owaisi fans communal flames in Gujarat; accuses RSS & Congress before civic polls round 2

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday, while campaigning for the civic body elections in Gujarat's Modasa, said that people should vote for his party on February 28 in order to give a reply "to the oppressors" of the Muslim community. Owaisi referred to the bomb blast in Modasa in 2008 and asked, "What happened in Modasa on September 29th, 2008?", to which the crowd responded saying, "blast".

'I want to ask the BJP government...'

The Hyderabad MP named a 15-year-old who had died in the blast and reminded the gathered crowd of the time, place and other circumstances all while drawing a communal link. "Seven people were martyred and over 100 were injured. I want to ask the BJP government, especially the Prime Minister of the nation janab Narendra Modi, the Gujarat Chief Minister and the people from RSS those who have been waving their sticks wearing 'chaddis' for the past 90 years and after that, they realised that they will have to wear pants to they started wearing them."

"I want to ask the cowards of Congress whether they will ever speak of Jamal (the 15-year-old),” asked Owaisi, claiming that to date the people responsible for the blast have not been brought to book. "We don't know who was behind the blasts but everyone knows that they were illegitimate children of that  Nathuram Godse. Just because they are illegitimate children of Nathuram Godse, the NIA did not arrest them and closed the case...I appeal to my mothers and sisters that we will not let another Jamal die in Modasa. Every human life has a value, be it a Hindu, Muslim, or someone of tribal origin," Owaisi said.

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Owaisi asked the people to use their vote on February 28 and "tell these oppressors who killed Jamal that our lives have value.”  "The Congress party is responsible because of the situation of Muslims in this country. They are the reason why India’s Muslims lack a political voice. You have an opportunity to change that by voting for AIMIM on February 28," he said.

AIMIM wins 7 seats in AMC on Gujarat poll debut

Owaisi's AIMIM marked its debut in Gujarat polls by winning seven seats in the civic body of Ahmedabad. Results of polls to six municipal corporations were declared on Tuesday, and AIMIM, which fielded 22 candidates in six wards, ended up with seven wins in two wards. In Gujarat, each ward of a municipal corporation has four seats.

While a panel of four candidates won in Jamalpur ward, three out of its four contestants won in Maktampura ward in Juhapura area of the city. Those who won in Jamalpur included former Congress corporators Mohammad Rafiq Shaikh and Mushtaq Khadiwala, while the third victor, Bina Parmar, was a new face.

The AIMIM did not field candidates in Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Bhavnagar and Jamnagar, which also witnessed civic polls on February 21 along with Ahmedabad. Owaisi is now campaigning for the second round of polls, and he also went to Godhra later on Tuesday.

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(With PTI inputs)