Owaisi asks Modi govt to completely ban gau rakshaks'

Hyderabad, Sep 29: Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) presidentAsaduddin Owaisi on Wednesday said that a complete ban on gau rakshaks would show that the Modi government is "genuinely" concerned about the empowerment of the minorities.

The Hyderabad parliamentarian was responding to a question posed by media persons at the party headquarters in Darussalaam on the Centre's decision to introduce progress panchayats (PP), an outreach programme targeted at the minorities.

"The place from where they are going to launch it (PP), in Haryana, two Muslim girls were raped and two Muslim men were murdered. And they were killed there because they said that they eat meat. In the name of checking meat in biryani, many Muslim were harassed," he said. He challenged the government to raid five star hotels in Gurgaon.

Owaisi said that the Modi government is doing minorities no favour by empowering them as it is a "Constitutional duty". "The High Court told the Maharashtra government to give five percent reservations to Muslims. You (BJP government) don't do that. This, when Jats in Haryana are given reservations. In Rajasthan, it is given in the name of economic backward class. And in Gujarat, it is given to Patels," he said. Hurtful statements from the BJP leaders should also be stopped.

The panchayats, Owaisi said, should begin from Kashmir where engagement with locals is required. "The Centre does not have its priorities right. Modi speaks of empowerment of minorities, then are you against the minority character ofAligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia?" he questioned.

He said that government should make pre matric, post matric and merit-cum-means scholarships demand driven. "Whoever applies should be awarded the scholarship. What needs to be done is not being done. The need to to do work which is constructive," Owaisi said.