Lucknow: Facing the ire from MNS for defying
its diktats, Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Asim Azmi today
challenged his detractors saying that he would make efforts to
"bring Hindi in the Maharashtra assembly".
Terming Hindi as elder sister of Marathi, the newly
elected SP MLA Azmi during a function organised at the party
headquarters here said, "The country would be run as per the
provisions of the Constitution. And I will make efforts to
bring Hindi in Maharashtra assembly."
"If the SP workers have to sacrifice every drop of their
blood, they would do so for the honour of countrymen," Azmi
said throwing a challenge to start the use of Hindi in the
Maharashtra assembly.
On the controversy, Azmi said that he respects both
Marathis and Mumbai, where people come to fulfil their dreams,
but would not adhere to the MNS diktats.
"Nahin aati to kya karoon, rozi roti kamou ya school
jaoun," (What can I do if I donot know Marathi. Should I go
to school to learn it or work for my living) he asked.
Azmi said that by taking oath in Hindi, he had performed
the same task as being done by the Committee for official
languages, which has MPs as its members and works for
encouraging the use of Hindi all over the country.
Azmi also questioned the SP chief for supporting the
previous Congress-led UPA government and said, "Jis saanp ko
doohd pilaya, vahi aaj das raha hai."
On Kalyan Singh, the SP MLA said now that he has gone, he
would lend whatever strength he has to the BJP, "while by
bringing him along we had negated one of our rivals."
Azmi, who is an accused in the Mumbai blast case and was
given a clean chit by party leader Amar Singh said that he was
framed and made an untouchable for helping the people during
the riots.
Questioning whether any of the Congress leaders had
visited Sanjarpur, Batala House or Assam, where Muslims were
being harassed, Azmi stressed that it was only SP leaders, who
had stood by the community during hard times.
The SP MLA gave a call to the partymen and Muslims to
contribute one brick each for rebuilding the Babri mosque
demolished during the reign of Kalyan Singh in 1992, after the
Congress had promised to rebuild it at the same place.
He also lashed out at former Muslim partymen like Safiqur
Rehman Burq and Azam Khan saying that they had gone as their
demands for ticket allotment were not met.
He also took a dig at Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray,
for criticising Sachin Tendulkar.
Bureau Report
First Published: Tuesday, November 17, 2009, 23:17