Lok Sabha MP and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Navneet Rana reiterated her veiled threat against All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) MP Asaduddin Owaisi. “We are committed to giving a reply to those who are working for Pakistan in India,” she said.
The latest war of words came after BJP leader Navneet Rana launched a scathing attack on AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi and his brother Akbaruddin Owaisi, saying that if police were removed from duty for “15 seconds”, the brothers would not know from where they came and where they went.
“The younger one (Akbarauddin) says ‘remove the police for 15 minutes and we will show what we can do’. Let me tell the younger one, you will take 15 minutes; it will be only 15 seconds for us. If you remove police for 15 seconds, you won’t know where you came from and where you went away,” said Rana. The threats were made on Wednesday, when Navneet Rana was campaigning in support of the BJP’s Hyderabad candidate, K Madhavi Latha.
On Thursday, while reiterating her stance, Navneet Rana said, “I always stand by my statement. I am not afraid of anyone. If they will take 15 minutes, we will take 15 seconds….”
Navneet Rana’s blistering attack came in response to a 2013 controversial speech by AIMIM MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi in which he said it would take them only “15 minutes” to balance the “Hindu-Muslim ratio” in the country if the police were removed.
After Navneet Rana’s threats were publicised, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi retorted, “I tell Modi ji – give her 15 seconds. What will you do?… Give her 15 seconds, give her 1 hour. We, too, want to see if you have any humanity left in you. Who is scared? We are ready…If someone is making an open call for it, then so be it,” said Owaisi while speaking to the media.
“Tell us where we have to come, we will be there. Do it,” said the AIMIM chief, adding, “PM is yours, RSS is yours, everything is yours. Do it. Who is stopping you.”
On Navneet Rana’s reported comments that a vote to AIMIM would go to Pakistan, Owaisi said the RSS and the BJP have hatred towards the country’s diversity and pluralism. The RSS ideology should be defeated, he said. Owaisi said that PM Modi had suddenly landed in Pakistan from Afghanistan, and reached former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s residence in 2014. “What was it?” he asked.
When told that the controversy started with comments about ’15 minutes’ by his brother Akbaruddin, he said the matter was decided in court. “We are saying you do it. Why do you say? We are sitting here. Do it. We are saying do it. You have to do it,” he said, further emphasising his point.
(With agency inputs)
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Published: 09 May 2024, 08:54 PM IST