Hyderabad, (Samajweekly) AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi on Wednesday reiterated his demand that the two mosques demolished at the old state Secretariat of Telangana be rebuilt.
The Hyderabad MP said that he, along with other Muslim leaders, would call on Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao to demand reconstruction of mosques.
The two mosques were demolished last month while razing the old buildings at the Secretariat to build a new complex.
Owaisi, who was addressing a news conference to react to the foundation stone-laying ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, was asked about the mosques at the secretariat, and recalled that he, and other Muslim leaders, have already demanded that the government rebuild the mosques at their original sites.
He pointed out that the Chief Minister made a statement expressing regret over the demolition. “It (the statement) was timely and right but we have said that it’s the duty of your government to immediately start reconstruction of mosques and give us a time-frame for the same,” he said.
“We will meet the Chief Minister to reiterate our demand,” he added.
Owaisi rubbished the allegations made by his opponents on the issue and said while they continued to criticise him, it was the AIMIM which worked on the ground.
He recalled that similar allegations were made on the issue of the Citizenship Amendment Act, the National Population Register and the National Register of Citizens but it was his party which met the Chief Minister and a resolution against the three was passed in the Assembly.
On revocation of the Constitution’s Article 370, on special status for Jammu and Kashmir, a year ago, Owaisi said it was a constitutional breach. “It was an unconstitutional step. The government had no right to do it but they had done it on the basis of their brute majority,” he said.
