BJP slams 'liberals' over Waris Pathan's communal remark

Targeting the "liberals", who are perceived as people with an independent thought, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said, "Owaisi's party has said 15 crore will dominate over 100 crore. If any BJP leader had made a similar remark, the so-called liberals would have come on roads to protest. But today no one has protested and no one is raising a question."

Urging the Muslim community to unite, Pathan was quoted as saying in media, "The time has now come for us to unite and achieve freedom. Remember we are 15 crore but can dominate over 100 crore."

He made the comment while addressing a rally against the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which aims to  grant citizenship to all Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi but not Muslim refugees who came to India from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan before 2015, in Kalaburagi in Karnataka.

"They tell us that we have kept our women in the front - only the lionesses have come out and you are already sweating. You can understand what would happen if all of us come together," he said in reference to the Shaheen Bagh protest in Delhi where hundreds of women and children are agitating against the act for over two months.

Patra in his press conference also took a dig at the AIMIM over the incident where a young woman raised pro-Pakistan slogan at the party chief Asaduddin Owaisi's rally against the CAA, National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Popular Register (NPR).

"Sometimes the truth is spelled out when discussions take place to give oxygen to Pakistan in the backstage while drama goes on by holding the tricolour in front of the state," the BJP leader said.

The woman- identified as Amulya- was asking people to shout along with her "Pakistan Zindabad" slogan at Owaisi's rally.

She was arrested, has now been sent to a 14-day custody and slapped with sedition charges.

The organisers of the event "Save Constitution" invited her to address the gathering soon after Owaisi came on the stage.

They were taken aback by her slogan.

Owaisi then rushed to snatch the mike from her hands and was joined by others who tried to remove her from the dais.

However, the woman was adamant and kept raising the slogan repeatedly.

The police had to intervene then and removed her from the dais.

Later, Owaisi also claimed that he denounced her action and asserted "we are for India."

"Neither me nor my party has any link with her. We denounce her. The organisers should not have invited her here. If I knew this, I would not have come here. We are for India and we no way support our enemy nation Pakistan. Our entire drive is to save India," the AIMIM MP said distancing his party from the woman.

Image Credit: BJP Twitter