BJP and Sena seek action against MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi

The BJP and Sena have sougth action against MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi for his demand that Rs 7,770 crore should be set aside for the Muslim community in the BMC budget. In a letter, Sumant Ghaisas, general secretary of Mumbai BJP, urged the state election commission to inquire into the speech and initiate action.Owaisi’s demand was in gross violation of the Supreme Court’s latest judgment prohibiting political parties from seeking votes in the name of religion, said Ghaisas.

 

Owaisi, who was in Aurangabad, said he feared the SC ruling would clash with its earlier decision. He was referring to the 1995 ruling by Justice J S Verma of the SC that Hinduism is a way of life and not a religion. “The parties contesting elections on the Hindutva plank would use it as a defence and claim that they are seeking votes on the basis of way of life and not religion,“ said Owaisi.

 

In Mumbai, city BJP president and MLA Ashish Shelar said Owaisi’s demand was aimed at creating bad blood between communities. “We don’t believe in allocating funds on the basis of religion. The BJP strategy is very clear. We want development of every section of society, irrespective of caste and creed,“ he said.