Owaisi asks why Gurugram family not protected

Naveen S Garewal
Tribune News Service
Hyderabad, March 24

Political mood in the region is hotting up as Telangana and Andhra pradesh go to poll during the first phase of election on April 11.

Though, the national parties are still in the process of finalising their candidates, the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and its friendly party the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) have already announced their candidates, who have started their campaign.

Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao who started his party’s first phase of campaign in Nizamabad, where his daughter K. Kavitha is the sitting MP and would contest the polls again, will launch the second phase of the party’s poll campaign on March 29.

At the same time AIMIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, who launched his campaign today took a potshot at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the government’s alleged failure to protect a family in Gurugram that was attacked in their house and the National Investigation Agency’s failure to seek a conviciton in the Samjhauta blast case.

He said the minority communities and Dalits should become politically relevant in a participatory democracy like this. “The minorities should come out for the Dalits as the issues of the Dalits and the discrimination faced by them are more or less the same.”

Taking potshots at the PM’s “Main Bhi Chowkidaar” campaign Owaisi said, “The reason for the incident is lack of representation (by minorities). You said “ghar mein ghus ke marenge” to Pakistan, but did you listen to the screams of the family that was attacked? From your house, you can reach that spot in 30 minutes,” he said, while addressing a public rally in the city.

 “Modi ji, you call yourself chowkidaar and these people barge into a house and beat a father in front of his daughter, while you do nothing,” he added. He told the gathering that the vicitm had an Indian flag in house, but the the accused beat up the family as if they belonged to another country.

The AIMIM sitting MP further went on the ask why Home Minister Rajnath Singh was not appealing against the acquittal of Swami Aseemanand. “Since I am the maalik and you (Modi) are chowkidaar, you should answer this. Why did NIA choose an advocate for the Samjhauta blast case who had not fought even one criminal case in his life? He did not even know how to fight an explosive substances,” he said.

Owaisi is contesting from the Hyderabad Parliamnetary Consitituency for the fourth time. His father Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi had won the parliamentary segment six times, first as an independent and after that five times on the AIMIM ticket. After his demise, Asadudin Owaisi has won the seat three times since 2004. The AIMIM is a friendly party for the ruling TRS in Telangana, but it actively supports the AIMIM despite fielding its own candidate on the seat.