HYDERABAD, May 5: AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi said on Tuesday that Muslims in India should develop their independent political leadership to become citizens with rights, instead of being mere voters for “so-called secular parties”.
Reacting to the results of the Assembly elections, especially in West Bengal and Assam, the Hyderabad MP told media persons here that the “so-called secular parties” have failed to stop the BJP.
“I want to reiterate that Muslims should try to create their own independent political leadership. Your vote is getting wasted because you are casting your vote in favour of so-called secular parties that are not secular. They failed to stop the BJP,” he said.
While acknowledging the need to stop fascist and communal forces, he said that this does not mean that there should be no political leadership of Muslims.
“Reposing faith for so many years in so-called secular parties has not given them any development nor eradicated injustice and discrimination. They (the community) should think about the value of their vote. You voted for them in Maharashtra, Bihar, Delhi, and West Bengal, but the BJP won in all these states,” he said.
“These so-called secular parties have not been able to stop the BJP. We have seen this in the past. In Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal played soft Hindutva. The same was done in Maharashtra by Uddhav Thackeray’s party, and to a certain extent by the erstwhile Nationalist Congress Party as well. We have seen the same behaviour in West Bengal by Mamata Banerjee and the All India Trinamool Congress.”
He alleged that Mamata Banerjee treated Muslims of West Bengal only as a vote bank and did nothing to improve their socioeconomic conditions despite being in power for 15 years.Owaisi noted that West Bengal is the only state in the country where Muslims are in a majority in 60 Assembly constituencies, while there are 20 other segments where Muslims are 30-40 per cent, but still the BJP won there.
Stating that the people of West Bengal have given power to the BJP, he hoped that the BJP government would work for every section of society and stop the marginalisation of Muslims.He believes that there are many reasons for the Trinamool’s loss. “One of the reasons is SIR. There was a huge anti-incumbency, massive corruption, and huge exploitation of the Muslim community.”
Owaisi stated that the image of Banerjee outside West Bengal as a very liberal and secular leader is completely wrong. “She has exploited the Muslims only as a vote bank. She has not treated them as citizens,” he remarked.(IANS)
