Asaduddin Owaisi, president of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), is once again in the eye of the storm. A video of his speech in Kanpur is being circulated on social media and it was alleged that he was brazenly issuing threats against police officers.
However, the AIMIM clarified on Friday that the clipped video footage of his speech was being circulated on social media to trigger controversy. Owaisi clarified, "I did not incite violence or make threats. I talked about police atrocities." He said the edited clip was shared to distract from the Haridwar meeting and convey a wrong message about him.
The speech he made was in reference to the alleged provocative and communal statements made against minority communities during a three-day 'Dharma Sansad' in Haridwar.
"A clipped one-min video is being circulated from a 45 min speech I gave in Kanpur. I have shared my entire speech on Twitter now. The context to my speech is amply clear. I was talking about cops who torture 80-year-old men. I was talking about cops who watch silently as mobs thrash a rickshaw driver in front of his daughter. Also, cops who rained lathi blows on a man as held his child in his arms," Owaisi said.
He further said, "I said we will remember these police atrocities. Is this objectionable? Why is it offensive to remember how police have treated Muslims in UP? We cannot forget the oppression that was meted out to Anas, Suleiman, Asif, Faisal, Altaf, Akhlaq, Qasim, and hundreds of others," he asked in another series of tweets.
In order to distract from #HaridwarGenocidalMeet, a clipped 1 min video is being circulated from 45 min speech I gave in Kanpur. I’ll set the record straight:
1. I did not incite violence or give threats. I talked about POLICE ATROCITIES Here’s the full video in TWO PARTS [Cont] pic.twitter.com/buZWZmVNLa
— Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) December 24, 2021
The event in Haridwar that Asaduddin Owaisi was referring to in his speech was attended by several Hindu religious leaders, who allegedly called upon the community to take up arms against Muslims as they gave a clarion call for a 'Hindu nation', reported IANS.
Meanwhile, Uttarakhand Police on Thursday registered a case against Wasim Rizvi aka Jitendra Tyagi and others over his alleged "hate speech" at the event. "Taking cognizance of the video that is going viral on social media for spreading hatred by giving provocative speeches against a particular religion, a case has been registered against Wasim Rizvi alias Jitendra Narayan Tyagi," the Uttarakhand police tweeted.
(With IANS inputs)
