AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday, 20 November, said the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is not required in the country.
Criticising the BJP for promising to implement the UCC, he stressed the need for more freedom of speech and expression, and people would not be targetted based on their attire and religion.
Referring to the BJP’s two other promises — to officially mark 17 September as “Hyderabad Liberation Day” and organise free yatras to Ram Mandir in Ayodhya and Kashi for senior citizens — the Hyderabad MP told reporters that the BJP has been indulging in such things “instead of addressing core issues” relating to the development of the country.
The BJP on 18 November said the UCC would be implemented in Telangana if the party came to power in the state in the 30 November Assembly elections.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who released BJP’s manifesto for the legislative Assembly polls, said that if the BJP formed a government it would constitute a committee to implement the UCC in Telangana within six months.
Related: Many sops in BJP manifesto — promises UCC, end to Muslim quota
‘Adivasis will reject BJP’
Hitting out at Shah, Owaisi said, “As far as the UCC is concerned, I wish and hope that Amit Shah goes to Adilabad, Khammam, and Warangal and stands in the midst of Adivasis and tells them about the implementation of the UCC. He does not have the ‘intellectual guts’ to go and say this thing, because the Adivasis will reject the BJP.”
The Adivasis have constitutional protection to safeguard their culture, the AIMIM leader said, adding that the UCC was not what was required.
“What is required in this country is more freedom of speech and expression wherein people will not be targetted for the clothes they wear or for the religion they belong to,” he said.
“For the past nine-and-a-half years, the BJP has been in power in our country (at the Centre). They have weakened the economy and destroyed small businesses. They have utterly failed in their promise of providing two crore jobs a year, and we have the highest unemployment of youth in the world. Instead of addressing these core issues relating to the development of the country, the BJP indulges in these issues (UCC, pilgrimages, etc),” Owaisi said.
Also read: Congress makes subtle shift to legacy of Indira Gandhi in Telangana
‘This is political arrogance’
Reacting to the Congress and BJP leaders targetting the AIMIM during their election campaign, Owaisi said, “This is their political arrogance. They have come to know the strength of Majlis (AIMIM) in Telangana. That’s why they keep on taking the Majlis’ name. It will neither benefit the Congress nor the BJP as the people of Telangana have already decided (on whom to support).”
He alleged that both the Congress and BJP’s politics were based on hatred.
“That’s why I say the Telangana Congress president (A Revanth Reddy) belongs to the RSS and today Mohan Bhagwat is having the remote control of the Congress,” Owaisi further alleged.
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