Stay away from us if you support another country: Asaduddin Owaisi

AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi has reiterated that the CAA, the NRC and the NPR were targeted at Muslims, and urged the public not to fall prey to the defence cited by the ruling party.

Speaking at a rally against the CAA at the Freedom Park here on Thursday, the Hyderabad MP said he was disheartened by the manner in which the programme began (he was referred to the shouting of Pakistan Zindabad slogans by a college girl). He recalled how he had defended India on a Pakistani television show and earned praised from former parliamentarian Kirti Azad.

“Hum Bharat ke hain, Bharat ke hi rahenge. If you want to shout slogans supporting another country, do not even come close to the Muslims,” he asserted.

Owaisi said NPR enumerators could misuse the power to decide the citizenship of a person. “NPR is anti-poor. Lawyers are making money as people are scrambling to get birth certificates,” he stated.

The firebrand leader also decried opposition to Tipu Jayanti, saying the 18th-century warrior’s life should be celebrated because he sacrificed his children for the sake of the nation.

He said Tipu’s pictures adorned the first few pages of the original document of the Constitution of India. “If he was so bad, why would his photo be there?”

'8 cr people could lose citizenship'

"If the estimates are right, the names of eight crore people will be eliminated," he said. Drawing a parallel between the Bidar school incident where a child's mother was arrested for saying something against Modi and a teen who fired at protesters in Delhi, he said the BJP jumped to the gunman's defence, saying he was a minor but harassed the other family. "The mother stood there shivering and said she had not seen her daughter for two weeks," Owaisi said.

Fears of civil war

Dalit leader Gurushant Pattedar said the country could see civil war if the situation continued. "Anyone aged 16 and above will have to take part in such a war. We will leave the children and women out of this," he said, adding that Dalits were equally opposed to the CAA and the NRC.