Voting will take place on Wednesday in the by-election to Meerapur assembly seat in UP’s Muzaffarnagar district. Earlier on Monday, on the last day of the election campaign, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi spoke at a public meeting and tried to mobilize Muslims by giving the example of Palestine. Owaisi also raised the issue of lack of roads, electricity and increasing the capacity of sugar mills, hospitals and girls’ colleges.
AIMIM has named Arshad Rana as its candidate from Meerapur assembly seat. From here, Azad Samaj Party’s Zahid Hussain, Bahujan Samaj Party’s Shahnazar, Samajwadi Party’s Sumbul Rana, AIMIM’s Arshad Rana and Lok Dal candidate Mithlesh Pal of the NDA are in the fray.
‘We don’t lose heart after seeing the results’
Owaisi said in the election meeting that we have been working on UP soil for many years. We compete in elections. Both losing and winning. But we are not people who lose courage after seeing the election results. Yesterday we had very high spirits and we will continue to be so in the future as well. But you decide.
‘I’m giving you an example, don’t feel bad…’
He said that when you have to fight a war in democracy, you have to fight with great courage. But we came to conclusions even before going to war. Don’t give up before the battle. Don’t vote with fear. If you want to fight for democracy, fight hard. Don’t jump to conclusions before the fight. I’m giving you an example, don’t feel bad. Palestinians have been fighting in Gaza for 70 years. They are dying. So far 40 thousand have died. 12 lakhs were left homeless. But look at their courage: they are not afraid. They are competing. Because Israel is a cruel country and that cruel country is committing atrocities in Gaza. But they are fighting in Gaza.
Owaisi raised the issue of Waqf Bill
Owaisi said that when the results of the parliamentary elections came, his deputies were elected based on the population. But there is a population whose deputies have not been able to be elected based on the population. They are a minority community in the country. Who is responsible for this? To a certain extent we are also responsible, as we fear that if we vote for the Majlis the BJP will win. What I want to tell you is that we definitely have to stop the BJP, but will we continue to destroy ourselves to stop them? So where will our voice go? For example, I want to say that the Waqf Bill has been introduced in Parliament today. If our party had at least three MPs, would Modi have thought of doing such a thing? You know what Waqf Bill is. This bill says that the Collector will decide whether this mosque, madrasa and cemetery are property of the Waqf or not.
