BJP targets Owaisi, he says clip was ‘edited’

NEW DELHI: AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi’s remarks at a poll rally cautioning the Uttar Pradesh Police triggered a controversy on Friday with the BJP comparing him to Muhammad Ali Jinnah, even though he clarified that the context of his remarks was deliberately edited out to misrepresent them.

In a series of tweets, All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Owaisi shared a video clip which has been widely circulated on social media and said the remarks made by him were in the context of atrocities against Muslims by the state police, which has been edited out of the clip.

Owaisi said the edited oneminute clip of his 45-minute speech was being circulated to divert attention from the alleged hate speeches made at a Dharma Sansad in Haridwar.

“I did not incite violence or give threats. I talked about police atrocities... Is this objectionable? Why is it offensive to remember how police have treated Muslims in UP? I asked cops: who will come to save them when Modi-Yogi retire? Indeed, who will?...” Owaisi tweeted while clarifying his position. Taking on Owaisi over his remarks, BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi compared him to Jinnah.

“...soul of Jinnah resides in Owaisi,” Trivedi said, adding that the Hyderabad MP’s remarks are similar to that of Jinnah made in 1946, a year before Partition, while talking about direct action.