NEW DELHI, Feb 4: The All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Friday rejected the ‘Z’ security cover offered to him by the central government in the aftermath of an attack on his convoy on the Delhi-Meerut national highway on Thursday evening.
Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Owaisi urged the government to charge those who attacked him with stringent provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and appealed to end radicalisation in the country. “I don’t want Z category security. I want to be an A-category citizen, at par with you all. Why was UAPA not invoked against those who fired at me? …I want to live, to speak. My life will be safe when the poor are safe. I will not get scared of those who shot at my car,” he said in Parliament.
He drew the central government’s attention towards the hate speech in Haridwar, Raipur, and Prayagraj and asked, “Who are these people who believe in bullets and not the ballot, who have so much hate. If this is the kind of politics we are going to see, of bullets being strewn at a tollbooth, we can see the kind of radicalisation,” Owaisi said.
Requesting the government to listen to what was said about him in Dharma Sansads, Owaisi said he is not afraid of dying but want to live as an “A category citizen”. He appealed that the ministry of home affairs should form a special cell to “tackle this kind of radicalisation. I am not afraid of dying but I want to appeal to the government to see what was said (in Haridwar and Prayagraj). I don’t want Z security, I want to live with freedom and not a stifled life but I want to be an A category citizen,” he added.
On Thursday, gunshots were fired at Owaisi’s vehicle at Hapur in western Uttar Pradesh when he was returning to Delhi from Meerut after campaigning for the Assembly elections. Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said the State government has arrested the culprits and also seized the weapon and vehicle used in the attack.
Two suspects have so far been arrested in the incident. The suspects told the police that they were hurt by Owaisi’s “anti-Hindu statements,” said Deepak Bhuker, the superintendent of police, Hapur. Owaisi demanded that the culprits should be charged under UAPA so that radicalisation can be stopped.
(Manas Dasgupta)
