Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi was in the eye of a storm over his announcement of legal assistance to the five terror suspects arrested by the NIA in Hyderabad.
While the leaders of the ruling BJP and the Opposition Congress have criticised his move, the social media was flooded with threats of violence against him.
Over the weekend there were many tweets calling for a violent attack, like killing him in encounter or sending him to jail.
Responding to the physical threats, Owaisi said on Sunday that he would not be deterred by such threats. “I am being threatened both by the ISIS and the Sanghis. That means that I am a thorn in the eyes of both the sides. I don't care as I have been getting death threats for the last 15 years”, he said.
Owaisi, who is known for moving around freely, alone without any security, said that there will not be any change in his style. “As a Muslim I have faith that Allah is sufficient to take care of me. Day of my death has already been written. I am not going to die a day before or after that”, he told this correspondent.
“These threats show the frustration. The ruling party and Modi supporters are behind these threats”, he said.
Defending his position on legal assistance to the five terror accused from Hyderabad, Owaisi said that whatever he said was within the framework of law and the constitution.
“Every Indian has a right to be legally represented in a court of law. All these people who are criticising and threatening me, want all the arrested people to incarcerate in prison without any legal right to be represented in the court. They are threatening the lawyers that they should not represent any Muslim or Dalit in the court”, he said.
Owaisi recalled that Indian Government had provided a legal aid to a Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab and he was tried in the court and hanged after proving his guilty. “Nobody could raise a finger. This is how our legal and constitutional system works. These boys are Indians and they were charged under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. They have constitutional right to be legally represented. If somebody gets angry or offended with this, let them change the constitution. What BJP and RSS are saying that if tomorrow any Muslim is arrested no lawyer should represent them”.
On the BJP leader Muqtar Abbas Naqvi's criticism that Owaisi was directly or indirectly helping the ISIS, Owaisi asked Naqvi whether he has guts to condemn the incident in Haryana in which two fasting Muslim youth were forced by the Sanghis to eat cow dung and drink urine.
“There is no substance in what the BJP and the Congress leaders are saying. They basically want to shut me up. They are attacking me for whatIJ For condemning the ISIS unequivocallyIJ I am not demanding the release of these suspects. I am only saying that they have a legal right to be represented in the court. let the NIA bring all the evidences and prove their guilt. If they are guilty let them be punished. let the court decide”, he said.
He recalled how the people arrested in Akshardham attack were acquitted by the court after eleven years and in Malegaon after five years and Himayat Baig in Pune Bakery blast case was released.
He also recalled that there was a gross miscarriage of justie in Hyderabad after the Mecca Masjid blast when 100 Muslim youths were picked up and subjected to third degree torture by the police. But finally it turned to be handiwork of some Hindu terrorists, he said. Owaisi said that the then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh YS Rajasekhar Reddy had tendered an apology in the Assembly and paid compensation to the victims of the miscarriage of justice.