Owaisi slams Centre over watch on Muslim youth
Radicalisation can happen anywhere. You have to remove the hatred against us. If you want to know how youth get radicalized, then you have to investigate who were the persons who carried out the blasts at Ajmer Shrine and Mecca Masjid — Asaduddin Owaisi, MP, AIMIM chief
All India Majlis-eIttehadul Muslimeen (AIMM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday questioned the motive of the Union Home Ministry in gathering information on the reasons of Muslim youth drifting towards banned organizations like the Islamic State.
Addressing a public meeting at Udgir in Maharashtra, Mr. Owaisi sought to know why only Muslim youth are kept under surveillance as counter radicalisation measures. There are about 17 crore Muslims across India and of these around 10.5 crore are youth, according to latest census.
“If 60 of them - including 30 to 40 persons who were living abroad and joined the ISIS - are radicalised, why the government considers it is important to keep the entire community under surveillance? I ask the government, why there is no surveillance by the Counter Terrorism and Counter Radicalization (CTCR) division of the Union Home Ministry on the cow vigilantes. It is important to know how they are getting radicalised to such an extent that they are killing people in the name of cow slaughter and beef,” he asked.
He further asked, “Are the acts of killing women, distributing swords and even ministers killing people not radicalisation? Radicalisation can happen anywhere. You have to remove the hatred against us. If you want to know how youth get radicalised, then you have to investigate who were the persons who carried out the blasts at Ajmer Shrine and Mecca Masjid."
Mr. Owaisi said it is important to know how Devender Gupta and Bhavesh Patel were radicalised. “Are they not associated with RSS? Tell us, who were the persons involved in bomb blasts in Malegaon, Nanded, Parbhani and Jalna.”
The AIMIM chief suggested that if the governments want to stop radicalisation, they should first make the police answerable. “If an innocent is put behind bars and later acquitted by court, then ask the police what they did. All those (police officials) who implicated people in false cases are now sitting in top positions,” he said.
“Even an eight-year-old girl is not safe in the country. I do not know with what name I should call the perpetrators of the barbaric crime who had used a place of worship to commit the act,” he said.
“Me Modi is not going to do anything for the dalits and Muslims. The government has failed on every front, including GST, demonetisation and jobs for unemployed. Now we will unite in the fight against this government. The country will teach the BJP-led government a lesson,” he added.