AIMIM chief Owaisi demands repeal of CAA

Lucknow All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi has demanded repeal of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) by the central government.

Addressing a public meeting in Ramnagar area of Barabanki district on Sunday, Owaisi said the year-long farmers’ protest forced the BJP-led NDA government at the centre to withdraw the three contentious agriculture laws. Now it was the turn of the Muslim community to force the central government to withdraw the CAA, he said.

Terming the CAA against the spirit of the Constitution, Owasi said the Constitution did not give power to any government to formulate law on the basis of religion or caste. The CAA was formulated by the BJP government to target the Muslim community. It was an attack on the right to equality guaranteed under the Fundamental Rights, he said.

If the central government moved ahead with the proposal to enact laws for National Register for Citizen (NRC) or National Population Register (NPR), the AIMIM would launch a big protest movement in Uttar Pradesh and other states at par with Shaheen Bagh protest organized in Delhi in 2019, he said.

“I opposed CAA on the floor of the Parliament. The Muslim community should know that if CAA is implemented their rights will be curtailed,” he said.

Owaisi attacked the secular parties- Samajwadi Party (SP), Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)-- for being silent on atrocities committed by the state government on the Muslim community.

“The SP, Congress and BSP are concerned with the votes of the Muslim community. They are silent on the custodial death of Muslim community youths in Kasganj, Unnao and other places. The leaders of the so-called secular parties have not raised their voice on the problem faced by the weavers with the closure of handlooms and powerlooms and the difficulties faced by the Qureshi community with the closure of slaughter houses. Rather they are misguiding the Muslim community with the statement that the AIMIM will divide the Muslim votes. The AIMIM did not field candidates in the 2017 assembly and 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Barabanki, yet the SP lost both the elections,” he said.

The Muslim community should create a political leadership by voting for the AIMIM that would fight for their rights on the floor of the UP assembly. The BJP and secular parties were trying to create fear among the 19% Muslim voters in UP. Muslims should understand their design, as these political parties were not concerned about welfare of the Muslims but about power, he said.