Owaisi influenced by "ghost of Jinnah", wants to divide India: Union Minister Giriraj Singh

NEW DELHI: Slamming AIMIM Chief Asaduddin Owaisi over his latest statement on Ayodhya dispute, Union Minister Giriraj Singh on Sunday said that the Muslims in India are descendants of Lord Ram. People like Owaisi are influenced by "ghost of Jinnah" and they want to divide the country, he added.

Wo to Makka Madina jaayenge, hum kahan jaayenge? Kya Pakistan me Ram Mandir banega? Owaisi jaise log, jinke dil me Jinnah ka jinn pravesh kar gaya hai, desh ko todna chahte hain: Giriraj Singh pic.twitter.com/klADDIcPDC

— ANI (@ANI) February 25, 2018

In a reply to the Hyderabad lawmakers satatement, Giriraj Singh said that Muslim in India are neither descendants of Babur nor they are foreigners. "Bharat ke andar koi Musalman Babur ka vansaj nahi hai, koi Musalman videshi nahi hai. Hindustan ka Musalman Ram ka vansaj hai, hamare purvaj ek hain, Pooja padhti alag ho sakti hai (No Muslim in India is descendant of Babur. They are also not foreigners. India’s Muslim is a descendant of Lord Ram. We all have one predecessor, rituals of worship may be different)," he said.

Bharat ke andar koi Musalman Babur ka vansaj nahi hai, koi Musalman videshi nahi hai. Hindustan ka Musalman Ram ka vansaj hai, hamare purvaj ek hain, Pooja padhti alag ho sakti hai: Giriraj Singh pic.twitter.com/AlVWRHuPUt

— ANI (@ANI) February 25, 2018

The union minister's statement comes a day after All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Chief Owaisi had claimed that the Supreme Court will decide in favour of Muslims and Babri Masjid will continue to be in Ayodhya.

"Our Masjid will remain there and we will reconstruct it once again as Supreme Court will give the decision in our favour," Owaisi had said at a Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO) event in Delhi on Saturday.

"The court will not give a decision on the basis of faith but on the basis of decision," he added. Muslims will never leave that space, added the Hyderabad MP. "The people who threaten to leave the Masjid and speak against our `shariat`. I would like to tell them that we will never leave that space," Owaisi had added.

Attacking the centre over the recent PNB scam, Owaisi had said, "People who call us Pakistani, I would like to question them if Harshad Mehta, Ketan Parekh, Nirav Modi were Muslims? The people who our Prime Minister calls `Bhai` have robbed our country. We believe in the idea of `Hindu-Muslim Bhai`, but while this has never helped us. The country is now heading towards a Hindutva country."

Asaduddin Owaisi had recently blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) alliance for failing to tackle terror attacks.