Reject national parties, Owaisi tells Dalits, Muslims, Adivasis
Thane, Jan 28: All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi asked Dalits, Muslims and Adivasis to come together and reject national parties in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Speaking at a rally of the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi Sunday in Kalyan in the district, he said it was time for the "deprived" to hit back rather than continue "suffering" as was the case in the past 70 years.
The Vanchit Bhaujan Aghadi is an outfit floated by the AIMIM and the Prakash Ambedkar-led Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh (BBM).
He said Babasaheb Ambedkar had laid down equal rights for all citizens of the country.
He took a dig at the Congress and the ruling BJP and claimed the two parties had got elected on the votes of the "deprived" classes but had only meted out injustice to them.
The AIMIM president said the country needed a "pehredar" (guard) rather than a "chowkidar" (watchman), a term Prime Minister Narendra Modi often uses to describe himself and his role.
Congress chief Rahul Gandhi also came in for criticism from Owaisi who called him a "janeudhari" (wearer of the sacred thread).
The Hyderabad Lok Sabha MP said only parties like the one led by Prakash Ambedkar could do justice to the poor and downtrodden and not the Congress or leaders like PM Modi, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and NCP chief Sharad Pawar.
A few days after President Ram Nath Kovind announced Bharat Ratna to Mukherjee, RSS leader and social activist late Nanaji Deshmukh and late music maestro Bhupen Hazarika, the AIMIM chief claimed the country's highest civilian honour had only been bestowed on people from the "upper caste".
He pointed out that Dalit icon Babasaheb Ambedkar was given the Bharat Ratna as he deserved it and because he was the architect of the Constitution.
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DU dismisses Rahul's allegation that it uses interviews to eliminate students
New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi University (DU) has dismissed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's allegation that it uses interviews to eliminate students.
In a post on X late on Friday, it said: "The University of Delhi admits students primarily based on the CUET scores, and the standard admission process does not mandate interviews for most undergraduate and postgraduate programmes."
"If the Leader of Opposition was referring to recruitments (such as faculty positions), the University in the recent past has recruited thousands of teachers across all categories. We strongly object to such comments, as they create a non-conducive environment in the University. The Leader of Opposition should have verified the facts before making such a statement. @EduMinOfIndia," it added.
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This was in response to the remarks of Gandhi, the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, alleging that the DU eliminates students on the basis of caste.
"I had gone to the Delhi University. Interview is just a way to eliminate students. They ask what your caste is and then you fail in the interview," Gandhi said on Friday while addressing an event in Lucknow to mark the birth anniversary of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) founder Kanshi Ram.
Targeting the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Congress leader further said, "Take out the list of the RSS. Those who are their pracharaks and seniors in the organisation, you will not find one OBC, one Dalit, one Adivasi among them. This is completely against the Constitution."
This has triggered a further controversy, with the Indian National Teachers' Congress (INTEC), along with some DU professors, including academic and executive council members, pointing out that public record shows that in several departments of the university, despite a large number of teaching posts being advertised under the Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) categories, qualified candidates were declared "not found suitable (NFS)" after the interview stage.
