Asaduddin Owaisi takes ‘intellectual capacity’ dig at Yogi Adityanath over Urdu remark; BJP reacts

Asaduddin Owaisi, a staunch critic of Yogi Adityanath, said Urdu is the language of the freedom struggle.

Taking a sharp jibe at Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath over his recent remark, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said on Saturday that Urdu isn't the language of the Muslim community and the comment displayed "their intellectual capacity".

AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi at Parliament premises during the Budget Session, (ANI file photo)

"It is clear that UP CM doesn't know Urdu. But only he can answer why he did not become a scientist...The ideology that the UP CM comes from, nobody from the ideology participated in the freedom struggle of this country. He comes from Gorakhpur. Raghupati Sahay 'Firaq' also comes from the same Gorakhpur. He was a renowned Urdu poet, but he was not a Muslim...This (remark) is their intellectual capacity," he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Owaisi, a staunch critic of Yogi Adityanath, said Urdu is the language of the freedom struggle.

"UP CM doesn't even know that Urdu is a part of Uttar Pradesh's culture. People of RSS and BJP don't know that Urdu is protected by the Constitution, just like other languages. They don't know that every Muslim doesn't speak Urdu, this is not the language of Muslims, This has been the language of this country's freedom. This is the language of this country...BJP wants to build this country as per one language, one religion, one ideology and one leader," he added.

What had Yogi Adityanath said

Adityanath had slammed the Samajwadi Party for demanding translation of assembly proceedings in Urdu.

"They send their children to English medium schools, but when the government wants to extend this opportunity to others' children, they (SP leaders) say 'teach them Urdu'... they want to make these children maulvis. They want to take the country towards fanaticism (kathmulla-pan)," he said in the assembly earlier this week.

BJP reacts

BJP MP Dinesh Sharma called Owaisi the kingpin of rumours.

"He is the kingpin of rumours, and he gives statements about Modi ji and Yogi ji so that his desire for publicity is fulfilled...He wants to come in front of the media every day... Urdu is a language that has been created in our country, and Urdu is a good language. We people use several Urdu words in our daily conversations... there is no conflict anywhere, in fact, we call Urdu the younger sister of Hindi," he said.

BJP leader Mohsin Raza said Owaisi himself went to London to become a lawyer.

"You went to London to study. You became a barrister, but you have kept them as your vote bank. You want them to roam around wearing caps, do labour work and never get educated… similarly, the head of the Samajwadi Party (Akhilesh Yadav) also went to Australia to study.Everyone likes education in Australia, but as soon as Yogi Adityanath tried to connect these people with the mainstream, the opposition passed remarks on that...We do not do appeasement politics," he said.

With inputs from ANI