MIM, BJP doing communal politics to win Lok Sabha elections: Congress

Hyderabad DCC President and Congress candidate for Hyderabad Lok Sabha Waliullah Sameer accused both MIM and BJP of using communal politics as a shield to cover up the backwardness in Hyderabad.

Addressing a press conference at the Congress party's central election office of Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency at Chaderghat here on Friday, Waliullah Sameer alleged that, as always, both MIM and BJP were trying to polarise the election campaign in Hyderabad.

He said people got frustrated with the Hindu-Muslim rhetoric of both parties, which brought no development in Hyderabad. Both parties are demonising each other to make people vote out of fear. Instead, he said both parties should explain to the people what they did for the overall development of Hyderabad in the past.

"MIM should explain what it has done for Hyderabad since 1984. Similarly, the BJP should tell the people what its government at the Centre has done for Hyderabad in the last ten years," the Congress leader said, adding that both parties never believed in accountability.

He strongly condemned the BJP and its Hyderabad candidate, Madhavi Latha, for her controversial statements and gestures to hurt the Muslim community. "On one side, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is targetting Muslims by even calling them infiltrators. On the other side, the BJP candidate is trying to attract media attention so that she could create a Hindu-Muslim divide. Surprisingly, she is also roaming into some areas seeking Muslim votes. Amidst those visits, she is giving statements that Muslims should be thrown out of this country," he said.

"Why BJP cannot see the poverty among the people of Old City? Why did it do nothing to provide jobs to the Old City youth? It did not see other problems in the Old City, but it is trying to target the poor Muslims who are doing odd jobs to make a livelihood," he said.

Sameer said that there are both Hindus and Muslims in the Old City. "Elections should not be fought on the HinduMuslim basis.