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More Owaisis will be born if one is killed, says AIMIM chief; slams law and order in UP
The Centre had decided to give Z-category security to the AIMIM leader after the incident but he turned it down.
Two days after shots were fired at his vehicle at the Chhajarsi toll plaza in Hapur district on Thursday evening, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) national president Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday raised a question mark over the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh.
“More Owaisis will be born if one is killed,” he said, addressing a gathering at Asara village in Chaprauli assembly constituency of Baghpat district in support of party candidate Anees Ahmad.
The Uttar Pradesh police had arrested the two assailants who had fired shots at the vehicle in which Owaisi was returning to Delhi after conducting a door-to-door campaign for his party’s candidate in Kithore assembly constituency of Meerut district on Thursday evening. No injuries were reported but two bullet holes were spotted on the vehicle in which Owaisi was travelling and one of its tyres was punctured.
The Centre had decided to give Z-category security to the AIMIM leader after the incident but he turned it down.
He said he will not accept Z-category security, adding that if the poor get protection, it will be his security.
“How logical is it to provide me with Z-category security if the BJP can’t protect the common man?” Owaisi said at his first election meeting in Baghpat district after refusing to accept the Centre’s offer. “Guns can’t stop me,” he said.
“I do not want security, I want a share. Make Muslims of India and the poor A- category citizens,” he said, according to an ANI report.
According to the ANI report, the Lok Sabha MP said those who fired bullets on his vehicle were the ones who killed Mahatma Gandhi.
“…Those who fired bullets (on my vehicle) were the ones who killed Gandhi. I talk about the rights of the people, hence the bullet was fired. I talk about the stake (of Muslims), so the shot was fired. When I talk within the ambit of the Constitution, the evildoers cannot tolerate it… If one Owaisi dies, I bequeath you to produce lakhs of Owaisis,” he said.
Attacking the BJP, Owaisi said Prime Minister Narendra Modi raises Kashi and chief minister Yogi Adityanath visits Mathura.
“They raise only those issues by which they can pit two communities against each other,” said the AIMIM leader, who is also the Hyderabad MP.
Continuing his attack on the BJP, he reiterated that the double-engine government (same party in power at the Centre and in the state) had been of no use to Uttar Pradesh and it could not even lay railway tracks in Hastinapur, a historical spot related to the Mahabharata.
“Stray animals are destroying crops and farmers are compelled to guard their crop throughout the night,” he said.
He also targeted opposition parties and blamed them for cheating people in the name of social justice.
Nevertheless, he also gave an offer to Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav to join hands with him and said, “It will benefit him.”
The Uttar Pradesh assembly elections for 403 seats will be held in seven phases from February 10 to March 7. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.
Baghpat goes to polls in the first phase on February 10.
