Congress, RJD too scared to talk about CAA, NRC: Asaduddin Owaisi

The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) gained 5 seats within the Bihar Assembly election, getting over 5 lakh votes out of the 4 crore polled. A day after the outcomes, its president Asaduddin Owaisi stresses on the necessity to converse about the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). Excerpts:

The central theme of your marketing campaign in Bihar 2020 elections was the CAA and the NRC and the muted response of the RJD and the Congress on them. Can you clarify why this was so key to your marketing campaign.

I disagree with you, this was not the central level, this was a part of the problems we had been elevating. We had been constantly speaking about injustice in direction of Seemanchal. This is a area that sees annual floods throughout which hundreds of acres of land are alienated. There is an absence of instructional institutes.

Also, for the final 25 years, the RSS and the BJP have been saying that there are loads of ghuspetis (infiltrators) in Seemanchal as a result of the realm is strategically situated with the Bangladesh and Nepal border at an in depth distance. It was solely our celebration that has been rebutting this propaganda. We had been the one ones who protested in opposition to the CAA and the NRC in Seemanchal. When you go to individuals, you will have to handle the issues that matter to them. We don’t have the compulsions of different events such because the Congress or the RJD who’re far too afraid that in the event that they converse on the CAA or the NRC, their feedback would assist the BJP. The CAA is unconstitutional, how is it a communal subject alone?

So you might be saying that the Congress and the RJD had been too afraid to converse out and that left a vacuum which you got here to occupy within the area?

We have been working constantly for the final 5 years. People have seen this. When floods occurred, we performed medical camps and distributed reduction. When migrant staff returned, they had been forcibly put in quarantine centres and we got here to assist them. And over and above what we did inside and outdoors Parliament additionally performed a job. And third, this talk by the RJD and the Congress accusing us of being a B-team of the BJP is weird. And fourth, girls voters performed an enormous function within the AIMIM victory. In all my political rallies, there have been an enormous variety of girls, one thing I’ve by no means seen in my political life. In Kochadhaman, in my final assembly of the marketing campaign, I used to be far too drained and after I was leaving, few girls approached me. They stated, ‘You don’t fear, they [Congress-RJD] are talking loads of nonsense about you and we’ll give them an apt response on November 7.’

Do you remorse contesting this election in an alliance, fielding candidates in simply 21 seats, contemplating that amongst your allies solely BSP gained a seat. Do you’re feeling you’ll have gained much more seats had you gone solo?

No. I’m actually grateful to Devendra Yadav of the Samajwadi Janata Dal, Upendra Kushwaha of the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party. And I credit score them for the victory of our celebration.

What does the long run maintain for you in Bihar? Do we count on an even bigger function and can you increase past Seemanchal?

The first precedence will likely be that our MLAs work actually exhausting and check out to fulfil the guarantees we made to the voters. We will likely be combating inside and outdoors the Assembly. Our presence is already being felt with these 21 seats. We will strengthen our celebration extra.

Will we see the AIMIM contesting West Bengal elections in 2021?

I will likely be talking to my Bengal celebration unit. We will likely be having an intensive dialogue with them. If they’re assured sufficient that we should always contest, then we’ll take a choice on it. Many of my celebration members have been despatched to jail on false costs. Of course, there was loads of curiosity in us, particularly within the border space of West Bengal like Uttar Dinajpur and Islampur which might be in Kishanganj’s neighbourhood. I don’t have a particular reply but.