This is a big worry, a point of friction that can lead to huge social movements. Owaisi says people will take to the streets
Post Date – 11:50 PM, Wednesday – 5/31/23
Photo: IANS
Hyderabad: AIMIM chairman Asaduddin Owaisi said on Wednesday that dividing parliamentary constituencies based on population would lead to a huge social movement as it would reduce the number of Lok Sabha seats in states that are doing well in terms of population control.
He agreed with Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working chairman KT Rama Rao that demarcation based on population would cause serious injustice to the southern states, which have been keeping population under central government policy.
“It’s a big worry, a point of friction that will lead to a huge social movement. People will take to the streets,” Owaisi told reporters.
People have been expressing concern about the issue for the past five years, he said. “You can’t penalize states for population control. How can you penalize states whose TFR (total fertility rate) has fallen and is below the national TFR,” he asked.
He wondered how, in a federal system, penalizing population-controlling states by reducing parliamentary seats limits their influence in central government formation.
“If we have to move forward, we have to find a way so that states don’t lose their parliamentary seats just because of population control,” said the Hyderabad MP.
Owaisi asked the BJP and Sangh Parivar to clarify their position on the issue. “They expressed concern about the growing population. Now is the time for them to come forward and take a stand on it,” he said.
Regarding the statement made by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the US, what happened to Muslims in India today also happened to Dalits in the 1980s, Owaisi reminded him that it was during the 1980s when the Congress Party was in power , the worst anti-Muslim riots took place.
“Under whose rule did the massacres in Hashempur, Mariana and Moradabad take place?” he asked. The MP also reminded Rahul Gandhi that Sikhs were also killed in the 1980s.
Referring to recent events, Owaisi said Junaid and Nasir were killed in Congress-ruled Rajasthan, while Dharam Sansad was held in Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh state, where Mahatma Gandhi was killed. ill.
Owaisi also reminded Gandhi that Congress supported the BJP to pass the UAPA Act in July 2019. “Muslims today, those who oppose the government are jailed under the UAPA,” he said.
He lashed out at Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath for announcing that a Hindu religious festival would be observed across the state on the eve of elections.
“There’s a race going on to see who’s the biggest Hindu. They’re all trying to prove they’re the biggest Hindu,” Owaisi said.
The Hyderabad MP said he was against political secularism, which he said had devastated Muslims and reduced their representation in parliament and assemblies.
The AIMIM chief has ruled out support for Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal against a bill proposed by the centre, which seeks to annul a Supreme Court order that gave control of services in the national capital to the Delhi government.
“Why do you support Modi when he proposes to abolish Article 370 which divides a state into Union Territory. You want to prove that you are a greater Hindus than Modi,” Owasi told Kejriwal.
He also made it clear that he would never support Kejriwal. “He’s not for soft Hindutva. He’s following real Hinduism,” he said.
