Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
New Delhi, Nov 9 (IANS) All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi hit out at RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, saying his remarks calling him an extremist reflected his “mentality” and “hatred”.
Speaking to IANS, Owaisi said that Tejashwi should understand that after being the Deputy Chief Minister for four years, making such statements which is now dreaming of becoming the Chief Minister of Bihar, exposes his mentality.
Owaisi, who is campaigning extensively in Bihar’s Seemanchal region, criticized both the state and central governments for neglecting development and accused rival parties of spreading hatred and discrimination. He also answered questions on the alliance, communal politics and challenges for Muslims and other marginalized groups in the region.
Here is the full interview:
IANS: Rahul Gandhi has been accusing BJP of corruption. You have been visiting different parts of Bihar. Which issues do you see dominating the state?
Owaisi: In Bihar, especially in the Seemanchal region, there are many issues like underdevelopment, discrimination and hatred towards the people here. The residents of Seemanchal are maligned and branded as infiltrators. The area frequently faces floods and land erosion, yet no compensation is provided. There is no proper education system here, the health care system has collapsed and corruption is at its peak. These are some of the major problems here.
IANS: Tejashwi Yadav has called you an extremist. What would you say if Muslims still vote for him?
Owaisi: Voting is everyone’s right. He should understand that making such statements exposes the mentality of someone who was Deputy Chief Minister for four years and is now dreaming of becoming the Chief Minister of Bihar. His words clearly show that his heart is full of hatred, due to which he considers people with beards and caps as extremists. People are looking at him.
IANS: You often speak openly on issues of faith, whereas leaders like Tejashwi Yadav and Rahul Gandhi avoid doing so. Why?
Owaisi: I will keep speaking in whose name we donate. If we don’t speak, who will? He is everything to us. If we are Muslims, it is because Muhammad taught us that Allah is one.
IANS: Your party is contesting elections with BSP in some constituencies of Bihar. Will this alliance extend to Uttar Pradesh?
Owaisi: No, this is not BSP. This is the Azad Samaj Party led by Chandrashekhar Azad. We are contesting the elections together with Swami Prasad Maurya and he is part of the GDA alliance formed by us.
IANS: Who among Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav do you consider to be a true sympathizer of Muslims?
Owaisi: When both Behenji (Mayawati) and Akhilesh Yadav served as chief ministers, you have to compare their records. The first major incident that comes to mind is the Muzaffarnagar riots. About 50,000 Muslims were displaced after independence. About fifty to a hundred Muslim women were raped, including several who were gang-raped, and about a hundred more people, including both Hindus and Muslims, were killed. I went to those camps at that time and had the opportunity to provide aid and relief along with a boy named Shanwaz. At the same time, Akhilesh Yadav was organizing a dance and song program in Saifai by calling film stars from Mumbai. Muzaffarnagar was a major massacre and many people are displaced even today. This happened in Akhilesh Yadav’s government. Akhilesh Yadav talks about MY (Muslim-Yadav), but works only for Y. If we talk about sister, she has come from land, whereas Akhilesh Yadav has inherited his father. Mayawati is a self-made politician.
IANS: Afzal Ansari had recently criticized you. How do you respond?
Owaisi: What do they know about how we work in Hyderabad? They believe that we do not work for Hindus; This is their ignorance. They don’t know that there are MLAs in our party who used to throw newspapers; He’s never seen my office, where I sit with the doors open five days a week. Fifty percent of the people coming are our Hindu brothers and sisters, mostly Dalits. He doesn’t see it. He left the Communist Party to form Ekta Dal, then went to Behenji (Mayawati), then went to Akhilesh. And now he is talking about family. They need to know that if one reads the Constitution of India, there is a fundamental right in it, the right to equality, which talks about real equality, and we have to achieve that equality.
IANS: What do you think about Tej Pratap Yadav as a leader?
Owaisi: The so-called MY (Muslim-Yadav) combination, which made Lalu Yadav and his wife the chief minister, Tejashwi Yadav the deputy chief minister for four years and his brother a minister, has no unity or harmony even within their own house. How can he work for the people of Bihar when there is no consent in his own family? Born from the same mother, both are opposed to each other. Politically, this is a big weakness for them.
–IANS
RS/DPB