Asaduddin Owaisi accuses Maharashtra govt of ignoring Muslims, Dalits

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi has alleged that the BJP-Sena government in Maharashtra has ignored the woes of Muslims as well as the Dalit community across the state and discriminated them.

Addressing an election rally of MIM candidate Azmat Sohel Siddiqui for Jalna Municipal Council polls yesterday, Owaisi said both the political combines (BJP-Sena and Congress-NCP) in the state kept aside the interest of these communities all these years.

"They are twin brothers and have turned a deaf ear to the problems of Muslims and Dalits," he said, urging people to vote them out of power.

Owaisi alleged that BJP wanted to run the country on principles of Manu (an ancient Hindu legal code) by scrapping the Atrocities Act, which protects the Dalits.

Also, they want to dilute the Constitutional framework, he alleged.

On reservation issue, he sought to know why the former Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra did not ensure reservation to the Maratha community during their rule.

He also slammed the current BJP dispensation in the state for skirting the issue of giving reservation to Muslims in government-run and aided educational institutes and jobs.

Muslims have been demanding implementation of the Sachar Committee and 5 per cent quota for the community in Maharashtra.

He also criticised the Maharashtra government for "allowing" the release of Karan Johar's 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil', which featured Pakistani actor Fawad Khan in a cameo.

Owaisi also came down heavily on the government over the 'settlement deal' of Rs 5 crore proposed to be paid by the filmmakers to the Army Welfare fund and said," Its extortion in the name of Indian Army. Its an insult to the soldiers who are sacrificing their lives on the border."