UP Election: Asaduddin Owaisi Booked For 'Communal' Statement, 'Indecent' Remark Against PM Modi

A case has been registered against Asaduddin Owaisi for promoting enmity on grounds of religion, disregarding the order of a public servant, Epidemic Act, etc.

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Lucknow: AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi has once targeted the BJP leaders, and this time the Uttar Pradesh police have booked him for allegedly making "indecent" remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

The FIR against the All India Majlis-e-Itthehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief was registered on Thursday at Barabanki city police station after his party's rally, news agency PTI reported.

A case has been registered under various sections of IPC such as promoting enmity on the ground of religion, disregarding the order of a public servant, Epidemic Act etc, Superintendent of Police, Barabanki, informed Yamuna Prasad.

He said the Hyderabad MP also violated Covid guidelines on mask and social distancing by calling out crowds at the party rally at Katra Chandana on Thursday.

Barabanki SP informed that the AIMIM chief made statements affecting communal harmony and pointed at the 100-year-old Ram Sanehi Ghat mosque razed by the administration and its debris being removed which is contrary to the fact.

"By this statement, (Asaduddin) Owaisi tried to vitiate communal harmony and incite feelings of a particular community. He also made indecent and baseless remarks against the PM and the Uttar Pradesh chief minister," the SP told the news agency.

Uttar Pradesh is scheduled to go to assembly elections next year along with other states such as Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab, and Manipur. The contest for Uttar Pradesh is crucial given its strategic importance for political parties to maintain or establish dominance in the Hindi heartland.

Owaisi, who was on a three-day trip to Uttar Pradesh for reviewing the party's plans to contest 100 seats in the upcoming assembly polls. Launching a scathing attack the PM Modi, Owaisi said efforts are being taken to turn the country into a "Hindu Rashtra" since he came to power seven years back.

"Ever since Narendra Modi became prime minister, efforts are on to demolish secularism and make the country a Hindu Rashtra," he had said.