'Great hatred for word M': Owaisi on BJP's manifesto

Alleging that the Bharatiya Janata Party has hatred towards minorities, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi said the saffron party even refused to mention the word "minorities" in its manifesto, instead calling it as "marginalised".

Owaisis said AIMIM's alliance in Uttar Pradesh with Anupriya Patel's Apna Dal-K will continue even in the assembly polls and the party will support Prakash Ambedkar in Akola and Anand Ambedkar in Amaravati in Maharashtra.

"I have seen the BJP's advertisement on April 17 in various newspapers. Please see when they talk about giving loans or help to start a business from the government, it says ST and OBC. The BJP is even refusing to mention word minorities forget about Muslims. The word minorities is mentioned in the Constitution of India and the BJP has a great hatred for the word M," Owaisi told PTI Videos on Wednesday.

"They have not mentioned the word minorities. They say scholarships will be given to marginalised communities," he said.

He claimed that there are highest number of school dropouts among Dalits and Muslims and that the BJP has deliberately ensured that the dropout rate is increased in the Muslim community.

Alleging that there is a high unemployment rate in the country due to lack of jobs, increased hatred towards minorities and that there is threat to the Constitution, the Hyderabad Lok Sabha member appealed to people to keep in mind the issues before they vote for any party.

Owaisi said the BJP might talk about making the country the third-largest economy in the world, but one has to consider the per capita income when it comes to growth.

He said though there were discussions between his party and AIADMK in Tamil Nadu earlier, they did not take off as the latter was part of NDA then. However, since the Palaniswami-led party came out of the NDA and also stated that it would oppose CAA and NRC, it would become the most powerful party in the southern state during Assembly polls and also is expected to perform well in the Lok Sabha polls, he said.