All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would change the Constitution of India, in order to eventually remove reservations for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
Mr. Owaisi, who represents the Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency, was addressing a public meeting as part of his election campaign.
“I want to tell my Dalit brothers and all those who believe in Baba Saheb Ambedkar: remember this and write this down, Narendra Modi will bring about a change in the Constitution. The RSS upper-caste people never accepted the Constitution, and were never able to digest the fact that Ambedkar, being the most qualified of his time, was the one who framed the Constitution. The BJP wants to change the Constitution. If it has its way, reservations will be removed, and provisions of Article 29 and 30 for minorities will be done away with,” Mr. Owaisi said.
The AIMIM has yet again sought to position itself as the voice of the Muslim population in Hyderabad. “The voice from Hyderabad parliament [constituency] has become the bold voice of the minorities of India. The Hyderabad parliament seat is not only your voice, but has also become the voice of Dalits, the innocent, and Adivasis. The Hyderabad parliament candidate is of course yours, but has also become the voice of those who love this country,” Mr. Owaisi said.
The AIMIM chief expressed confidence that those contesting against him would go on to lose their deposits. He also predicted that the Bharatiya Janata Party would be routed in Telangana. “I can say with certainty that the people of Hyderabad have decided that in the city, there would be patang [AIMIM’s election symbol], and in Telangana, the BJP will be finished,” he said.
Mr. Owaisi invoked the demolition of Babri Masjid as he criticised BJP’s Hyderabad Lok Sabha candidate Kompella Madhavi Latha, who landed in a controversy after a video of her mimicking using a bow and arrow near a place of worship went viral on social media.
“She mimicked firing an arrow in front of the Siddiamber Bazaar Masjid. I want to ask: is the BJP not content with December 6? Do you want to drown the country in Hindu-Muslim hatred? What is this thing of firing an arrow at a place of worship? How is your heart filled with such hatred?”
