Ready to face polls in Ramadan: Owaisi

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Friday claimed that the BJP-led Central government is planning to conduct 2019 elections during Ramadan and said his party was ready to face the poll battle in the fasting month.

Addressing a meeting at historic Makkah Masjid on the occasion of last Friday of Ramadan, the Hyderabad MP appealed to people to ensure 98 to 100 percent polling even if the elections were to be held during the holy month.

Owaisi, whose party had been winning Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat for over three decades, exuded confidence that AIMIM would retain the constituency.

Referring to the BJP leaders' statement that they were aiming to wrest Hyderabad seat, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president said some forces were jealous of the unity here.

"RSS and other forces are pained by the unity in Hyderabad. They want to create a split but they will not succeed. Hyderabad has Ganga Jamuni tehzeeb. Hyderabad's Hindus and Muslims unite for MIM," he said.

The MP appealed to people to remain united and organised and pray for the party's continued success during the holy month.

"We are not bothered about what happens in other parts of India but in Hyderabad, MIM will continue to win. It's not my victory. It's our victory. It's the victory of our unity," Owaisi said.

Claiming that he is fighting for the rights of the community guaranteed by the Constitution, he said that he would continue to raise his voice in Parliament.

Owaisi voiced concern over the increasing numbers of incidents of lynching of Muslims in different parts of the country. "They first killed us in the name of 'gauraksha' and now they are killing in the name of Swacch Bharat," he said referring to the an incident of Rajasthan in which Zafar Khan was beaten to death by municipal commissioner and others when he objected to them taking photographs of women defacating in the open.

He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tweets on any terror attack abroad, did not tweet on the killing of Zafar Khan or Pilu Khan.

Stating that the country was heading towards anarchy, Owaisi said there could be peace only if there was rule of law.

"I want to ask the Prime Minister if this country is secular or has it become communal. He should tell us if this country is of Gandhi, Maulana Azad, Subhas Chandra Bose or of Savarkar."

Criticising the BJP's choice of Ram Nath Kovind as its nominee for the post of President, Owaisi recalled that in 2010, the BJP leader had stated that Muslims and Christians are alien to this nation.

He also slammed Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal-U leader Nitish Kumar for backing Kovind and termed him and his alliance partner Lalu Prasad as "drama baaz".

--IANS

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