All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday alleged there was no religious polarisation taking place in the country and that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was promoting a ‘hate agenda’. “Polarisation happens when there are two equal sides. In reality, there is a majoritarian hate agenda which the BJP is promoting,” he said while speaking at the India Today Conclave South 2023.
“It has alienated and marginalised Muslims more than ever,” Owaisi said, adding that the Hindutva agenda of the BJP was paying dividends to the party in the elections and those belonging to the Muslim community were casting their vote out of fear of becoming second-class citizens.
“The state where I come from, the BJP president says they will demolish the secretariat because it resembles Muslim domes. Where is the other side in this? Amit Shah comes and says they will remove four per cent reservation. Where is the other side in this,” he demanded.
When asked if he was playing on the fear of Muslims, Owaisi denied the charge, and said, “Islam can never be in danger. It is the country that is in danger, the social fabric and the Constitution that is in danger.”
Referring to the inauguration of the new Parliament building, he said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was flanked by Hindu seers and prostrated before a religious symbol.
“Is he the Prime Minister of one religion? That is why I’m saying this is the one-way propaganda of the BJP,” Owaisi said. He also compared the inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament to a “religious festival” where the Prime Minister was the “superstar”.