Asaduddin Owaisi counters PM Modi's Rajasthan speech: ‘That is a lie… What about you?’

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi.

Asaduddin Owaisi of the AIMIM on Monday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for stereotyping Muslims in his speech the day before, news agency PTI reported. Addressing an election rally in Bihar’s Purnea district, Asaduddin Owaisi said, “I may be taunted for having six children. But what about Modi, who has six siblings and his party colleagues like Amit Shah and Ravi Shankar Prasad, both of whom were born in large families?”

Modi, while tearing into the Congress manifesto at a rally in Rajasthan’s Banswara on Sunday, alleged that the Opposition party was planning to give people’s hard-earned money and valuables to “infiltrators” and “those who have more children” and referred to former prime minister Manmohan Singh’s speech in 2006 to contend he had said that Muslims have the “first claim” on the country’s resources.

Asaduddin Owaisi said he would like to conduct a “post mortem” examination on Modi’s speech.

“Modi said Muslims have more children. That is a lie. The fertility rate has declined in the community and, according to official data, it is 2.36 per cent. Though, admittedly, the fertility rate is lower among our Hindu brethren,” the Hyderabad MP said at the rally.

Owaisi alleged that Modi’s Banswara remarks were “divisive”.

“Going by Modi’s logic, the southern states may start agitating over having fewer MPs in Parliament, just because population growth is less rapid there, though these states contribute more to the GDP than the north,” Owaisi said.

The AIMIM chief also condemned the use of the word “ghuspaithiye” (infiltrators) by the PM, saying it was an “insult” to the people living in the Seemanchal region of Bihar that lies close to Bangladesh and Nepal, and claimed that in Parliament, the government has repeatedly failed to furnish data on illegal immigrants.

Owaisi also said, “The prime minister indulges in dog-whistling against Muslims in his own country while holding his counterparts in places like Dubai in a warm embrace, with greetings of Ya Habibi (my dear)!”

The AIMIM has said it will be contesting over a dozen seats in Bihar. Its state unit chief and MLA Akhtarul Iman is in the fray from the Muslim-majority Kishanganj constituency, parts of which fall in Purnea.

Modi renews ‘redistribution of wealth’ attack

Meanwhile, speaking in Aligarh, a western Uttar Pradesh’s constituency with a sizeable Muslim population, Modi renewed his “redistribution of wealth” attack against the Congress even as the Opposition party urged the Election Commission of India to take action against him for his alleged communal remarks made a day earlier.

Rejecting the allegations that has triggered a political row, AICC general secretary in-charge of the organisation KC Venugopal said party chief Mallikarjun Kharge has sought an appointment with the prime minister to “educate him” about its poll promise document.

The Bharatiya Janata Party on its part said the prime minister has called a spade a spade and has echoed people’s sentiments. BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia told reporters that the opposition is in pain as Modi has showed them the mirror.

Modi further said he wanted to “alert” people about the “intentions” of the Congress and the opposition INDIA bloc.

(With inputs from agencies)

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