Is Pathan's statement part of AIMIM's constitutional mandate, questions BJP leader Nalin Kohli

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Nalin Kohli on Friday questioned whether All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Waris Pathan's communal statement is part of his party's constitutional mandate.

"AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi regularly, within the Parliament as well as outside it, talks about the constitution and its aspects. What kind of constitutional mandate is being carried out by his party AIMIM when a senior leader of his party Waris Pathan is making communal and inflammatory statements? He says that 15 crore Muslims can dominate 100 crore Indians," Kohli told ANI.

"India runs on the constitution. Our constitution treats everybody as an Indian first. Every time such a communal statement comes then would it not lead to a counter-thinking that whether what happened in 1947 was a mistake? Pakistan was formed on the basis of religion. India was based on a constitution that grants equal rights to all its citizens," he added.

Earlier, Waris Pathan had said that 15 crore Muslims can dominate 100 crore Hindus.

"The time has now come for us to unite and achieve freedom. Remember we are 15 crore but can dominate over 100 crores," said Pathan while addressing an anti-CAA rally at Kalaburagi in Karnataka.

"They tell us that we have kept our women in the front - only the lionesses have come out and you are already sweating. You can understand what would happen if all of us come together," he said.

The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) grants citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Parsi, Buddhist, and Christian refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.