Kejriwal has forgotten that India is a secular country, says Owaisi

NEW DELHI: All India Majlis-e-ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday hit out at Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, accusing him of supporting the Hindutva idealogy and forgetting that India is a secular country.

Referring to Kejriwal’s recent appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to include the photos of Hindu deities Lakshmi and Ganesha on currency notes, Owaisi said: “The Delhi CM is the Narendra Modi of 2013 (the year Aam Aadmi Party formed the government in Delhi). Modi is the older brother. Kejriwal is the younger brother. There is so much communalism in him that he sought photos of gods and goddesses to be printed beside and over Gandhi on currency. I want to ask the Delhi CM, does he not remember that India is a secular country? He wants to follow the Hindutva ideology.” The AIMIM chief, while campaigning for his party’s candidate Nazra Parveen Siddiqui in Delhi’s Jamia Nagar, added that Kejriwal had “shut his eyes and ears during the Delhi riots”. He also alleged that no compensation was given to riot-affected individuals.

“When people were dying and houses were set aflame during the riots, Kejriwal did not say anything,” said Owaisi.

Communal riots in northeast Delhi in the last week of February 2020 left at least 53 people dead and over 670 injured. An AAP spokesperson declined to comment on Owaisi’s statements despite repeated requests.