Hyderabad, July 18: AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi has condemned Uttar Pradesh police’s directive asking eateries on the Kanwar Yatra route in Muzaffarnagar to display their owners’ names, and said the order gives the impression that Adolf Hitler’s spirit has entered Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s body.
Terming it a social and economic boycott of Muslims, the Hyderabad MP said it reminds of the Kristallnacht movement and Juden Boycott under Hitler’s rule in Nazi Germany
During the Kristallnacht movement, Jewish people and property were targeted while the Juden boycott was the boycott of Jewish businesses.
“It feels as if we are living in the 1930s in Hitler’s era,” he said at a press conference on Thursday.
He said this order was akin to reviving untouchability. He said while the country removed untouchability under Article 17, the BJP government is bringing it back.
He also termed the oral order a violation of Articles 21 and 19 of the Constitution which deal with the right to live and the right to a livelihood.
“It is a clear-cut discriminatory order. It shows that they want to make Muslims second-class citizens in UP, and in the country,” he said.
He challenged Yogi to issue a written order. “There is clear discrimination that is happening against Muslims. The Constitution is being smashed to smithereens.”
He claimed that after the verbal order, dhabas and hotels in Muzaffarnagar have removed many Muslim employees.
“Who has given you power? Will you destroy the livelihood of others? Will you give a yatra so much importance at the cost of ruining the livelihoods of others? Will you work for just one community? Where will the Constitution go? In the dustbin?” Owaisi asked.
He alleged that under pressure from Hindutva organisations, people are being told not to go to shops of Muslims.
Stating that there are McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, Café Coffee Day outlets on the route, he asked why they were not asked to display their owners’ names.
“You are identifying shops. This is discrimination against Muslims,” Owaisi said.
Owaisi also lashed out at Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for his statement that the Muslim population in Assam has reached 40% and it has become a matter of life and death for the state’s indigenous population.
The AIMIM chief dubbed Sarma as one of the top five liars of India. “He is a liar, and he hates Muslims of Assam. In 1951, there was Assam but Nagaland, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya were not there. When they became separate states, the Muslim population was 24.68 percent. In 2001, the Muslim population was 30.92 percent and in the 2011 census, it was 34.22 percent. Due to his lies, the entire administration hates the Muslims.”
Sarma said in Ranchi on July 17 that the Muslim population in Assam was only 12 percent in 1951.
