Asaduddin Owaisi courted controversy in Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency, by calling mafia don Mukhtar Ansari a martyr.

Pointing out that Ansari died whilst in judicial custody, the AIMIM chief said those who are martyrs never die, but remain alive.

In this context, he recalled the killing of Atiq Ahmed. He said the former MP was shot while in handcuffs and their MLA went to jail. “It was the responsibility of the BJP government to save the people, but it failed. Nature gets angry with the one who commits atrocities,” he added.

Speaking at a public meeting of the PDM Nyay Morcha here at Weaver Colony Grounds, Natiimli Thursday night, Asaduddin Owaisi fiercely targeted Narendra Modi and Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav in his 40-minute address.

Lamenting that his party, the AIMIM, is labelled BJP’s ‘B’ team, he said, “If we are a ‘B’ team, why then did Akhilesh Yadav lose the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections and 2017 and 2022 assembly elections to the BJP? Did he have any deal with Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Yogi Adityanath,” he asked.

The Lok Sabha MP said half of Akhilesh Yadav’s family sits with Prime Minister Narendra Modi over a cup of tea yet he asks us to give up our lives.

Sharpening his attack on the SP chief, he said, “There was talk of closing down madrasas, but not a single word of dissent came from Akhilesh Yadav’s mouth. All he wants is that people should sacrifice lives for him, follow him and spread carpet to welcome him.”

Quoting from Modi’s speech during his Lok Sabha election campaign, Owaisi said 17 crore Muslims are infiltrators who produce more children than the rest. “Modi’s only guarantee is hatred towards Muslims. The second is to change the Constitution, and the third is to end reservations of the poor and the backwards,” he alleged.

He said just 5 per cent of the population owns 60 per cent of the country’s wealth. These are those who bought electoral bonds in favour of the BJP to get contracts.

Owaisi said after May 13, he would come again and again to warn the public against those who drink the blood of the poor. He said Akhilesh Yadav has nothing to say about the backwards and Muslims. He did not give the ticket to H T Hasan from Moradabad simply because he did not want him to emerge as a stronger leader by winning again.

“The SP and Congress never did justice to us. Not even when we openly opposed triple talaq and CAA. Hence, we have brought an alternative to UP politics. If we want to get rid of the SP and the BJP, the PDM Nyaya Morcha will have to be strengthened.”