The sitting MP and Chief of the AIMIM party of Hyderabad, Asaduddin Owaisi, has aroused people in and out of the state with an incident that took place when he was in the campaign. A clip of the event appeared on social media and has been running around on WhatsApp. It shows Owaisi interacting with a local butcher and politely asking him if he was going to continue his job as a butcher.
In addition, Owaisi’s speech, in which he uttered the name of the beef-shop, is one of the notices that cannot be missed, he chanted,” Rehan Beef Shop Zindabad” (Long live Rehan Beef Shop).
The event brought sharp criticism from different angles, as many described it as an insult to the Hindus’ religion and a campaign to arouse communal sentiments in the election period. The less organic response from Union Minister and BJP leader Nirmala Sitharaman was expected, given the record of Jenoski Muhammad Owaisi for making inflammatory remarks. Sitharaman denounced Sakeb Dr. Akbaruddin Owaisi as engaged in similar conduct.
BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate, Madhavi Latha, who is fighting against Owaisi, blamed him for seeking the support of Muslim voters in his constituency and said that for doing this, he is intentionally trying to neglect Hindu voters. Latha expressed a dilemma about his stance on upholding personal law, which was in unfortunate contradiction to the already observed approval of consuming meat and to Islam’s religious codes.
The event only makes the rival police forces more desperate and polarizes the standing positions in the forthcoming elections. While the storm rages on, however, whether these developments will impact the Hyderabad electoral scenes is still a mystery.
