At U.P. rally, Owaisi slams SP, RLD

Muslims have been cheated in the name of secularism, he says

Targeting the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal at a well-attended rally in Saharanpur on Sunday, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi said Muslims had been cheated in the name of secularism.

He claimed that at SP leader Akhilesh Yadav’s Saharanpur rally no Muslim leader was given the privilege to sit on the stage. Muslims constituted around 42% of Saharanpur’s population. “Jayant Chaudhary has compared me to a film star who could attract crowds but not votes. I want to tell him that I am here to make Muslims a political force like Chaudhary Charan Singh did with Jats.” He said certain parties felt they had controlled the “Muslim mind” by “inculcating a fear” that there was no alternative.

Reminding the audience of the glory of the Muslim rule and carefully mixing religious messaging with constitutional rights, he urged Muslims to build their own leadership. “Send 20 candidates to the Assembly. Unlike MLAs of other parties who follow their party’s interests, AIMIM MLAs would stand by you like a wall … you are not a kingmaker right now but you can become one when being 19% of total voters, you vote as one.”