You need leadership to get your voice heard: Owaisi to Muslims
PRAYAGRAJ : All India Majlis-EIttehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday urged Muslims to become vote attractors instead of remaining confined to being vote givers. He said unless they had leaders highlighting their demands and protecting their interests, their issues and problems would never get resolved.
“The Samajwadi Party (SP) has always used Muslims for their votes and has never worked for their rights and development,” he alleged while addressing a public meeting at Rasulpur locality in old city area of Prayagraj.
Seeking votes for party candidate from Allahabad South assembly seat Mohd Farhan and North assembly seat Mohammad Ali, Owaisi said if Muslims had decided to vote for the SP this election, their decision was wrong. “Muslims voted in large numbers for the SP and the BSP during last many polls, including in 2019, but the BJP has won continuously. Muslims have no importance in the Samajwadi Party and Akhilesh (Yadav) himself has cut the tickets of 45 percent Muslim candidates in these polls. In a democracy, the issues can only be solved through your own leaders and AIMIM candidates if sent to assembly will speak for the rights of Muslims and other weaker sections of the society,” he claimed.
“The SP never wants the voice of Muslims to be raised in the assembly. Instead, it wants to make them their prisoners. The SP is trying to take Muslim votes by scaring them of Yogi and Modi but Muslims should not repeat the mistakes committed in 2014, 2017 and 2019 elections. The Samajwadi Party is not only oppressing the Muslim leadership but is uprooting it completely as a conspiracy,” he alleged.“I am in Uttar Pradesh not to hear slogans in my favour but to create leaders among Muslims who will serve them for long. Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav and other SP leaders supported the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) which was introduced by the BJP government for harassing Muslims. Only the AIMIM protested against the UAPA which has sent dozens of Muslim youths to jail,” he claimed.
“Moreover, Akhilesh Yadav changed the topic when he was asked to speak during a discussion on triple talaq and is even silent on hijab issue in Karnataka. SP was responsible for displacement of thousands of people from their homes in Muzaffarnagar and it was Akhilesh who did not sign the files related to cases against Yogi Adityanath. Akhilesh Yadav and Yogi Adityanath are two sides of the same coin and are like ‘Ram and Shyam’,” he alleged. “I am accused of doing politics of polarisation but the agents of SP here should listen that Muslims have least number of educated youths and have lesser resources including agricultural land. The SP promised reservation to Muslims in 2012 but never implemented it and yet they want Muslim votes,” Owaisi claimed.
Accusing SP chief Akhilesh Yadav of working hand in gloves with BJP, the AIMIM chief said that Akhilesh invited PM Modi to a marriage function in his family. “But I did not invite him to the marriage at my home. Azam Khan went to jail but Akhilesh was spared despite scam in the riverfront project. The harsh truth of politics is that you will not be heard if you have no leadership. My fight is only for giving leadership to Muslims and weaker communities,” he said.