Hyderabad: Lashing out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi said that Modi was trying to divide Muslims by his recent remarks on Sufism and Islam.
"Muslims do not need lessons on Sufism from Modi", Asaduddin Owaisi, also a parliamentarian who represent Hyderabad, said while addressing a public meeting in remembrance of Abdul Wahed Owaisi at Mahbub Chowk in the city Monday midnight.
Owaisi emphasised that Deobandis, adherents of the school of thought popularised by the Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband in UP, are also an integral part of the Muslim community.
He described Sufism as "surrendering one's desires to Islam and Islamic law".
"Don't try to divide us," he said.
"When Modi was chief minister of Gujarat in 2006, the dargah of the Sufi Hazrat Raziuddin Chishti in Vadodara was razed," he said.
He also sought to know whether the prime minister was sincere in his comments about Sufism. And if so, why investigation agencies are not opposing bail to those accused of bombing the shrine of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer.
He also sought to know why the government was going "soft" on all the accused of the Mecca Masjid and Samjhauta Express bombings among others.
Owaisi also rubbished the charge levelled by senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh that his party’s entry into political scene in Bihar and earlier in Maharashtra and Bengaluru has aided the growth of BJP.
Referring to Bengaluru civic polls in which his party contested only in 28 seats, he said that the Congress, sans the presence of his party, had failed to pose a strong challenge to BJP in the remaining 170 seats.
Owaisi also said that he would send a legal notice to Digvijaya Singh.
"Digvajay, a notice from the lawyer is being sent tomorrow. The soles of your slippers will wear out. You will have to prove your allegation. I also know the law. I can look you in the eye and I will fight for my rights," Owaisi said.
Also mocking the Congress leadership of voicing their protest against AIMIM’s pan India political approach, Owaisi said as a citizen of the country, he would lead the party to any state in India.
Taking a dig at Nitish Kumar, Janata Dal (United) and Lalu Prasad for not eradicating poverty in Bihar, Owaisi reiterated his political interests in Seemanchal region of Bihar.
“Young children from Seemanchal region of Bihar come to Hyderabad and other cities as urban labourers because of poverty,” he alleged.
Expressing the larger political stand of AIMIM, he said: We root for politics which takes Dalits, Muslims and OBCs together.
Dropping a hint that AIMIM will enter the fray in Karnataka Legislative Assembly elections, Owaisi said he will address public meetings and undertake padayatras in Karnataka at the right time.