PMC elections 2017: ‘Why no notices to Fadnavis, Uddhav Thackeray or Sharad Pawar?’ asks Asaduddin Owaisi
Pune Police had earlier denied permission to the public meeting of Owaisi. Pune Police had earlier denied permission to the public meeting of Owaisi.
Taking pot-shots at the police for slapping notices at him, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader and MP Asaduddin Owaisi wondered why similar notices are not served to other leaders like Devendra Fadnavis, Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar or Ajit Pawar. Owaisi who was in Pune to campaign for the candidates for the upcoming elections said that notices served on him were “an assault on the Constitution’s Right to Freedom of Speech”.
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“The Pune police in their notice had stated that I try to divide communities through my inflammatory speeches and hence, there might be a threat to my life in Pune. I would like to say that those who killed Gandhi or Kalburgi are the ones who would want to kill me,” he said. Owaisi said he had never tried to ignite communal tension and as citizen of the country he has the right to speak.
“If an MP is not allowed to speak his mind, then there is a serious threat to the Constitutional freedoms guaranteed to us,” he said. Owaisi said he has been travelling to various parts of the state like Nagpur and Solapur but have never been served such notices.
Pune police had earlier denied permission to the public meeting of Owaisi which was granted after much hue and cry. The MP from Hyderabad claimed that the Khadak police station has slapped another notice on him as soon as he had landed in Pune.
“I have never been issued such notices before,” he said. He also said that the notices were an insult to the rule of law and attempt to weaken the democratic set of the country.
During his speech, Owaisi freely criticised both Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as NCP chief Sharad Pawar.
Calling Modi as a ‘magician of magicians’ Owaisi said, the promises made by Modi never fructify. “Uddhav Thackeray realised it very late, we knew it from day one,” he said.
The Congress and NCP, the leader said has been using the veil of secularism to enjoy power but have done precious little for the minorities or Dalits. Demonetisation, the MP said, was a futile exercise and had done enormous damage to the Indian economy.