RSS outreach to Muslims cheap talk, loose talk; never shall the Twain meet: Asaduddin Owaisi

Hyderabad: AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi has dismissed RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's placatory statements towards Muslims as hypocritical "cheap talk", saying "never shall the Twain meet" because the Hindutva organisation only wants to destroy India's diversity.

"You may be making these conciliatory statements but it is your own people who are doing this (anti-Muslim) tamasha. If you think they are wrong, why are you not stopping them?" Owaisi said in an interview to PTI Videos on Saturday.

He was asked to comment on Bhagwat's remarks that the DNA of Hindus and Muslims is the same, and one should not be looking for a Shivling under every mosque.

This was in reference to disputes that have emerged in recent months surrounding pre-Independence, Mughal-era or earlier mosques, which some Hindus believe were built by destroying existing temples.

"Are all these people who are going to courts and filing cases (seeking investigation of mosques' origins) not Mohan Bhagwat's acolytes?" said Owaisi, a five-time MP from Hyderabad and the sole representative of his party in Parliament.

Besides Parliament, his All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen party has only seven seats in the 119-member Telangana Assembly. Despite his minor role in national and regional politics, Owaisi has emerged as a powerful voice of Muslims across the country because of his staunch defence of Muslim rights. His known antipathy towards RSS and BJP as well as vocal criticism of others among opposition parties add to his appeal among Muslims.

When challenged that perhaps it is these very people that Bhagwat is trying to control, Owaisi said: "The proof of the pudding is in the eating. Make them stop. That means they are not listening to you. Are you helpless to stop them? No, that's also not so. It is in your control. It is happening on your orders. It is happening with your acquiescence." He noted that soon after Bhagwat's comments, another senior RSS functionary issued statements saying Bhagwat did not mean what he said.

"This is the theory of confusion of RSS. Bhagwat's statements are hypocritical. This is just cheap talk, loose talk, meant to send a message to America or Gulf Muslim countries," he said.

When told that he could simply meet Bhagwat and seek a clarification on his stand, Owaisi said: "I am not anxious to meet him. (Mere pet me dard nahi hai)".

"I know RSS well. We know what its ideology is. RSS wants to destroy this country's pluralism and diversity, and create a theocratic country. This has been said often by their leaders, whether it is Dr Hedgewar or Golwalkar, Deoras, Bhagwat or Rajju Bhaiya.

"Them and us are the two shores of the sea. How can they come together? Never can the Twain meet. RSS is an ideological creature. RSS will never give up its ideology." Bhagwat has also met Muslim community leaders and intellectuals as part of the RSS outreach.