Owaisi slams Yogi, Tikait over ‘abba jaan’ and ‘chacha jaan’ jibes

Use of words like “abba jaan” and “chacha jaan” by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and farm leader Rakesh Tikait, respectively, reflected their “hatred” for Muslims, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi said on Monday. Owaisi, during his visit to Ahmedabad, tried to meet former Uttar Pradesh MP Atiq Ahmad, an AIMIM member who is lodged at the Sabarmati Central Jail, but was denied permission in the wake of COVID-19 guidelines and other reasons. The Lok Sabha MP from Hyderabad also announced that his party, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), will contest the 2022 Assembly elections in Gujarat. “Why does he (Adityanath) use the word “abba jaan?” He should say “pitaji.” This (use of words like this) is called ‘dog whistle’ politics in English,” Owaisi told reporters when asked about the BJP Chief Minister’s statement that he will end politics of appeasement going on in UP since Independence. Asked about the use of word “chacha jaan” for him by Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Tikait, Owaisi said, “It hardly matters to me, but the truth is that such ‘jumlas’ ((rhetoric) used in relation to Muslims – whether it is Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister or this man — reflected their mindset… that they are full of hatred against Muslims.” The parliamentarian said Adityanath, who faces elections in early 2022, claims he will end politics of appeasement, but he has done nothing for Muslims in the country’s most populous state. The AIMIM leader said only 2 per cent members from the minority community in UP are graduates and their school dropout rate in the age group 5-15 remains the highest – at around 60 per cent. “He (Adityanath) withdraws cases against him and does not allow prosecution, and graduation rate for Muslims in the state is only 2 per cent. Who is responsible, what have you done in five years?” he asked. “When you talk of equality, the Constitution says it should be substantive. If the son of an upper-caste person dies in a police encounter — which is wrong – (UP govt) suspends policemen. But when others, like Muslims are killed in an encounter, nobody is suspended,” he alleged. Addressing a programme in Kushinagar on Sunday, Adityanath had alleged people did not get rations before 2017 like they do now under his government. “Because then, people who are called ‘abba jaan’ used to digest the rations. The rations of Kushinagar used to go to Nepal and Bangladesh. Today, if anybody tries to swallow the rations meant for poor people, he will land in jail,” the chief minister had said. Regarding denial of permission to meet Ahmad in jail, Owaisi said “The people of Uttar Pradesh are watching.”

He claimed the police even barred him from meeting the jail superintendent to raise his grievances over the denial of permission. “Since Atiq joined our party, and he is in jail, I wanted to meet him in the jail. A message has been sent that I am not even allowed to go to jail to meet him. Not a single case against him has been proved. There are (criminal) cases against 37 per cent of BJP MLAs (in Uttar Pradesh),” he said. The AIMIM president said his party had written a letter as well as sent an email to the Sabarmati jail superintendent seeking his permission to meet Ahmad.

“(After denial of permission), I wanted to meet the jail superintendent to ask how he allows others to meet undertrial prisoners (but not him), but the police detained us saying that I cannot go,” he claimed.

“A message has been sent that the BJP government in Gujarat is not letting us meet Mr Atiq…The people of Uttar Pradesh are watching that,” the Lok Sabha MP said. The police, however, said Owaisi was not detained.

“We did not detain him, he was denied permission by the jail authority for the meeting. He is attending other programmes,” said ACP (C-division) SK Trivedi.

Ahmad, who faces several criminal cases, was in June 2019 transferred to the high-security Sabarmati Central Jail from the UP’s Naini jail – where he was lodged for allegedly kidnapping and assaulting a businessman – on directions of the Supreme Court. Earlier this month, Ahmad’s wife Shaista Praveen joined the AIMIM at a press conference in Lucknow, while the jailed former MP joined the Owaisi-led party in absentia. Ahmad was previously associated with various political parties, including the Samajwadi Party and the Apna Dal (Sonewal faction). Talking to reporters, Owaisi said the Hyderabad-headquartered party will contest the Gujarat assembly elections with all its might and see to it that its candidates enter the 182-member house in the state, being ruled by the BJP for more than two decades now. He said the AIMIM state unit will finalise the number of seats to be contested in Gujarat, which has a bipolar politics for years with the Congress and the BJP as main contenders for power. “We will also contest on Hindu-majority seats as we have to get votes of all (and not just Muslims),” Owaisi said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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