New Delhi: All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi, who was campaigning in Gujarat's Jamalpur on Friday got emotional talking about Bilkis Bano. Speaking to the news agency ANI, he said he got emotional as thoughts of his sisters and daughters crossed his mind while he was talking about Bilkis.
"We are humans after and are prone to get emotional. While I was talking about Bilkis Bano, thoughts of my sister and daughter crossed my mind. She was pregnant when she was raped and her mother and daughter were also killed. However, even after 20 years, she is still fighting for justice. If someone doesn't feel the pain, he is not worthy of being called human," ANI quoted Owaisi as saying.
On being questioned about why the 2002 post-Godhra riots and the Bilkis Bano case are getting traction in the campaign phases of the ongoing Assembly elections, Owaisi said, "The BJP will never forget 2002. PM Modi was the chief minister at the time. He failed to save Bilkis Bano, Ehsaan Jafri, and those killed in the bakery. Around 50,000 people in the state were forced to become refugees. I, too, went there with a medical team. So, if PM Modi is invoking all that had happened then, congratulations to him," he said.
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Talking about his party's prospects in the polls, the AIMIM chief said, "We are fighting for 13 seats in Vidhan Sabha and our focus is on winning them. We have worked very hard, visited every locality and have got a great response from the public. I hope this support turns into votes and our candidates become MLAs."
The second and final phase will be held on Sunday and the results will be declared on December 8.
Earlier, Union Minister Smriti Irani hit out at AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi for his statement on Uniform Civil Code. She said, “Who is he trying to scare? He is scaring the people of his community. No BJP leader has given any statement that people of one religion should get converted to another.”
“In which religious matter did we intervene? If a law is violated anywhere and the law is enforced there, how can it be an intervention? If there is a need for one law for every Indian in India, then what is wrong with it?” She asked if Owaisi wants to have a separate law for any one specific class.
(With ANI Inputs)