Sena tells Owaisi to pursue his Muslim quota demands in Pakistan

Hitting out at All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi for demanding reservation for Muslims in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena on Tuesday said that if the minority leader wants his demands to be met on religious grounds, then he should go to Pakistan and try his antics there.

Terming Owaisi's speeches “hateful”, the Sena said that the Devendra Fadnavis government should file a case against him and start legal proceedings.

“(Asaduddin) Owaisi is insisting that Muslims should get reservation akin to the Marathas. Such insistence had caused the separation of Pakistan from India. Hatred for Hindus compelled a section of Muslims to take control over Pakistan. Hence Owaisi may try and get his demands based on religious grounds fulfilled in Pakistan,” said an edit piece in the Sena mouthpiece, ‘Saamana’.

It added that the minority community will have to respect India as their motherland.

“They (minority community) will have to respect the Uniform Civil Code and stop demanding the continuation of Article 370 for Kashmir. Asking for reservations while continuing with religious rants will not work,” it said.

“Owaisi says ‘Muslims have suffered a lot and hence I speak up for them’. But will he give a count of the sufferings of Hindus due to the terrorist activities of extremist Muslims? What if extremists start communal violence and terrorist activities after listening to his speeches? Owaisi's speeches should be termed as hateful and action should be taken against him,” the Sena said.

Addressing a public gathering in Nagpur on Saturday night, Owaisi, the 45-year-old Lok Sabha MP from Hyderabad, had demanded reservation for backward Muslims in government jobs and educational institutes in Maharashtra.

Claiming that “injustice” has been done to Muslims in Maharashtra, Owaisi had blamed the more than 50 years of Congress rule at the Centre and the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party and Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party governments in the state for the prevailing backwardness of minority community members.