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All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi launched a fierce attack on Union Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday, accusing him of spreading "propaganda" to systematically deny fundamental rights to India's Muslim population.
The spark for the latest row was an alleged comment by Rijiju comparing the minority status of Muslims to that of the Parsi community, noting that India's Muslim population is large enough to form the world's sixth-largest country, whereas Parsis number only around 53,000. Responding sharply on social media platform X, Owaisi labelled Rijiju the "Minister Against Minorities" and questioned his understanding of demographic classifications. He argued that under Article 30 of the Indian Constitution, which mandates the right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions, any non-Hindu group is legally a minority in a Hindu-majority nation. "Simple math question for @KirenRijiju: what is bigger? 79.8% or 14%?" Owaisi wrote. "If Hindus are the majority community, then every non-Hindu group is a minority community. The minister is indulging in propaganda to deny Muslims their fundamental rights." Owaisi drew a parallel to regional linguistics to challenge the Minister's logic, stating that if raw population size disqualifies a group from minority status, then Hindi-speakers living in non-Hindi states could no longer be considered linguistic minorities, despite their numbers vastly exceeding the combined populations of the United States and Canada. https://x.com/asadowaisi/status/2056785627518263463 The confrontation follows a press conference held by Owaisi earlier this month in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Maharashtra, where he raised major flags over local voter list verifications. Owaisi alleged that a "planned agenda" driven by hatred is targeting the Muslim community by linking the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls with controversial citizenship frameworks like the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR). Addressing a press conference in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Maharashtra, Owaisi said the Supreme Court had made mapping mandatory and claimed that if mapping is not done, it would be carried out using parents' names. He further alleged that the application works through location tracking and claimed that during the verification of 27 lakh names, 97 per cent belonged to Muslims. "Muslims are being trapped under a planned agenda, and all this is being done based on hatred. The entire matter will be placed before the court, and allegations can be levelled against anyone," he said. Appealing to AIMIM voters, Owaisi said the issue was not limited to Muslims alone but concerned all sections of society. "SIR is being linked with NRC and NPR. NRC and NPR will be handled by the Home Ministry. The Supreme Court has said mapping is necessary and if mapping is not done, then it will be carried out using parents' names", Asaduddin Owaisi said in Sambhajinagar. (ANI)
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