'Hyderabadis are not cattle': Asaduddin Owaisi replies to PM Modi over leasing city remark
Asaduddin Owaisi and PM Narendra Modi
Asaduddin Owaisi of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) on Thursday strongly reacted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his remark that the Congress and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) had given Hyderabad “on lease” to the AIMIM. Asaduddin Owaisi said the people of Hyderabad are not “cattle” or “property of political parties”.
“Modi came to Telangana and said that the Hyderabad seat had been given on lease to Owaisi. The people of Hyderabad are not cattle. We are citizens, not the property of political parties. For forty years, Hyderabad has defeated the evil ideology of Hindutva and entrusted AIMIM. Inshallah, Hindutva will be defeated again,” Owaisi said in a post on X while sharing the video clip of PM Modi.
Taking a jibe at the prime minister over the electoral funding scheme and said, “Modi is bonded to those who gave his party ₹6,000 crore through electoral bonds. In return, he has leased/sold India’s assets to his sponsors. Modi appeased them so much that today, 21 people have more wealth than 70 crore Indians in total. Those 21 are his real parivar,” he added.
Owaisi’s remarks came a day after Modi trained guns at the Congress and the BRS and alleged that for all these years, both parties have given Hyderabad to the AIMIM on “lease.”
Addressing a poll-bound rally in Telangana’s Karimnagar, Modi said it’s the BJP which has challenged the AIMIM for the first time.
“For all these years, both these parties (Congress and BRS) have given Hyderabad to AIMIM on lease. If someone has challenged the AIMIM for the first time, it’s BJP. More than AIMIM, it’s Congress and BRS who are rattled by the challenge from the BJP. Both are helping AIMIM to win in Hyderabad,” he said.
Hyderabad has a rich cultural heritage and diverse demographics. A stronghold of AIMIM, the recent resurgence of the grand old party witnessed in the 2023 assembly polls in the region has posed a significant challenge to AIMIM’s dominance, setting the stage for an intense electoral battle.
In 1984, Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi won the Hyderabad seat as an independent candidate and later, from 1989 to 1999, as an AIMIM candidate. After him, Asaddudin Owaisi carried forward the legacy, holding the seat since 2004. In 2019, 14 candidates contested against Owaisi. He won the seat by securing 58.94% of the total votes polled, maintaining his dominance.
Elections 2024:
For this Lok Sabha election, BJP has named Madhavi Latha as its candidate against four-time MP Owaisi, while BRS has fielded Gaddam Srinivas Yadav. Meanwhile, the voting in Telangana would be held in a single phase on May 13.
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