New Delhi: Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait has said that All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi is the Bharatiya Janata Party’s “chacha jaan”, adding that the two parties were in fact on the same team.
His remark comes days after Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath courted controversy for his misleading claims on ration distribution in the state, when he said the Samajawadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party only distributed foodgrains to those who say “abba jaan [how Indian Muslims often refer to their fathers]”.
“Owaisi and BJP are a team. He is BJP’s ‘chacha jaan‘. He has the blessings of the BJP. He will abuse them, but they will not file a case against him. BJP will take his help. Farmers will have to understand their moves. Owaisi is double-faced. He will ruin the farmers. They will hatch conspiracies during elections. But as suggested by Zila Panchayat elections, people in Baghpat are revolutionary,” Tikait said, according to NDTV.
Tikait has emerged as an important leader in the ongoing farmers’ protests against the Union government’s controversial farm laws. Farmers’ leaders have recently been holding mahapanchayats across Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, and have publicly declared that they intent to challenge the BJP’s electoral chances in the upcoming assembly elections in UP.
Last week, Owaisi kickstarted the AIMIM’s election campaign in Uttar Pradesh. The party has declared that it will contest 100 seats in the upcoming assembly polls in 2022. Though it had all alliance with the BSP in Bihar, Mayawati has said there will be no similar alliance in UP. AIMIM has so far only formed an alliance with the Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha, a political front that includes nine small parties, including Om Prakash Rajbhar’s Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party.
The Samajwadi Party too has levelled allegations similar to what Tikait said, that the AIMIM is acting like the BJP’s “B-team”. The SP is hoping to win a high number of Muslim votes this time, which may not happen if the AIMIM puts up promising candidates in opposition.
