New Delhi: Days after some cops were caught on camera publicly flogging a few Muslim community members accused of hurling stones at Garba dance participants in Gujarat's Kheda district, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday (October 8, 2022), slammed the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and asked if it is the Indian democracy and the Indian secularism. Addressing a public meeting in Telangana's Hyderabad, Owaisi said that a stray dog has "respect" in India but not Muslims. 


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"They are being beaten on roads with lathis. Is it Indian democracy? Is it Indian secularism? Is it rule of law? There is respect for a roadside dog. But a Muslim is not respected," the Hyderabad MP said.


He said that the accused should have been dealt with as per law and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speak on the incident.


"If this was how the punishment is given, shut down the courts and remove police," he said.


He alleged that those drunk with power had become oppressors and reminded them that power is not permanent.

"Today the time is yours. Our time will also come but we will not reply with 'zulm'. We have to respond to violence with unity, political power and by strengthening democracy and rule of law," he said and advised Muslims not to get demoralised.


Owaisi also alleged that wherever there is a BJP government in the country, it feels like Muslims are "living in an open jail".


The Lok Sabha MP also slammed the survey of madrasas being undertaken in Uttar Pradesh and questioned the silence of Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav.



Meanwhile, Gujarat police chief Ashish Bhatia has ordered a probe into the said incident.


Seven persons, including a policeman, were injured after a mob comprising members of the Muslim community allegedly hurled stones at a Garba dance event organised as part of Navratri celebrations at Undhela village of Kheda district on Monday night. The attackers reportedly objected to the event being held near a mosque.


The next day, videos surfaced purportedly showing police personnel publicly flogging three of the 13 accused arrested in the stone pelting case with a baton by holding them against an electric pole at an intersection in Undhela village. 



A voluntary organisation in Gujarat has sent legal notices to the Chief Secretary and the DGP over the flogging incident.


Muslims use condoms the most: Owaisi on RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's 'population imbalance' remarks


Responding to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's recent population imbalance remark, Asaduddin Owaisi asked him to "not fret" as the Muslim population was "rather declining" in the country. He also asserted that Indian Muslims were the ones using condoms the most. 


"Don't fret. The Muslim population is not increasing. It's rather falling... Who's using condoms the most? We are. Mohan Bhagwat won't speak on this," Owaisi said.



Earlier this week, while addressing the annual RSS Vijayadashmi festival, Bhagwat had called for a "comprehensive policy on population" and said that it should be applied equally to all. 


"Population control and religion-based population balance is an important subject that can no longer be ignored... So a comprehensive population policy should be brought and should be equally applicable to all. Only then rules pertaining to population control will yield results," he had said.


(With agency inputs)