Owaisi censures Tejashwi Yadav for ‘thinking’ people with beards, topis are extremists

New Delhi: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Chief Asaduddin Owaisi hit out at RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, saying his remark calling him an extremist reflects his “mentality” and “hatred”.

Speaking to IANS, Owaisi said that Tejashwi should understand that making such statements, after remaining Deputy Chief Minister for four years and now dreaming of becoming Bihar’s Chief Minister, reveals his mentality.

Owaisi, who is campaigning extensively across Bihar’s Seemanchal region, criticised both the state and central governments for neglecting development and accused rival parties of spreading hatred and discrimination. He also responded to questions on alliances, communal politics, and the challenges for Muslims and other marginalised groups in the region.

Here is the full interview:

IANS: Rahul Gandhi has been accusing the BJP of corruption. You have been touring different parts of Bihar. What issues do you see dominating the state?

Owaisi: There are many issues in Bihar, especially in the Seemanchal region, underdevelopment, discrimination, and hatred towards the people here. The residents of Seemanchal are defamed and labelled as infiltrators. The region faces frequent floods and land erosion, yet no compensation is provided. There is no proper education system, the healthcare system has collapsed, and corruption is at its peak. These are some of the major problems faced here.

IANS: Tejashwi Yadav has called you an extremist. What do you say if Muslims still vote for him?

Owaisi: Voting is everyone’s right. He should understand that making such statements, after being Deputy Chief Minister for four years and now dreaming of becoming Bihar’s Chief Minister, reveals his mentality. His words clearly show that his heart is filled with hatred, because of which he thinks people with beards and topis are extremists. People are watching him.

IANS: You often speak openly on issues of faith, while leaders like Tejashwi Yadav and Rahul Gandhi avoid doing so. Why?

Owaisi: I will keep speaking in the name of the One in whose name we give our charity. If we don’t speak, who will? He is everything to us. If we are Muslims, it is because Muhammad taught us that Allah is One.

IANS: In some Bihar constituencies, your party is contesting with the BSP. Will this alliance extend to Uttar Pradesh?

Owaisi: No, it’s not the BSP. It’s the Azad Samaj Party led by Chandrashekhar Azad. We are contesting together with Swami Prasad Maurya, and they are part of the GDA alliance we have formed.

IANS: Between Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav, who do you consider a true sympathiser of Muslims?

Owaisi: When both Behenji (Mayawati) and Akhilesh Yadav served as Chief Ministers, you had to compare their records. The first major incident that comes to mind is the Muzaffarnagar riots. After Independence, around 50,000 Muslims were displaced. Around fifty to a hundred Muslim women were raped, including several gang-rapes, and roughly over a hundred people, both Hindus and Muslims, were killed. I had gone to those camps at that time and had the opportunity to deliver aid and relief with a boy named Shanawaz. During that same period, Akhilesh Yadav was organising song and dance programmes in Saifai, inviting film stars from Mumbai. Muzaffarnagar was a major genocide, and even today, many people remain displaced. It happened in Akhilesh Yadav’s government. Akhilesh Yadav talks of M-Y (Muslim-Yadav), but he works only for Y. If we talk about Behenji, she came from the ground, while Akhilesh Yadav inherited his father’s legacy. Mayawati is a self-made politician.

IANS: Afzal Ansari recently criticised you. How do you respond?

Owaisi: What do they know about how we work in Hyderabad? They assume we don’t work for Hindus; that’s their ignorance. He doesn’t know our party has MLAs who used to throw newspapers; he has never seen my office, where I sit five days a week with open doors. Fifty per cent of the people who come are our Hindu brothers and sisters, mostly Dalits. He doesn’t see that. He left the Communist Party to form Ekta Dal, then went to Behenji (Mayawati), then to Akhilesh. And now he’s talking about family. He needs to know that if somebody reads India’s Constitution, there’s a fundamental right, the Right to Equality, which talks about substantive equality, and we are supposed to achieve that equality.

IANS: What do you think of Tej Pratap Yadav as a leader?

Owaisi: The so-called M-Y (Muslim-Yadav) combination, making Lalu Yadav and his wife Chief Ministers, Tejashwi Yadav the Deputy Chief Minister for four years, and his brother a minister, has no unity or harmony even within their own house. How can they work for the people of Bihar when there’s no agreement within their own family? Both born of the same mother are against each other. Politically, this is a major weak point for them.

IANS