Sir — This refers to the report, “I won’t raise ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ slogan, says Owaisi” (March 15). One would rather hate to club Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad with Asaduddin Owaisi, the chief of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul-Muslimeen. But unfortunately, by equating the nationalist organisation, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, with the most ruthless terrorist outfit, the Islamic State, Azad appears to have joined Owaisi’s anti-RSS campaign. No one is buying Azad’s claim that he did not compare the RSS with the IS, not even the media. His comments are in line with his usual unrestrained denunciation of the BJP.
Owaisi’s public outburst that he would not say ‘Bharat Mata ki jai’, is not surprising at all. Clearly, he has inherited anti-India mindset of some Hyderabad leaders at the time of Partition, who wanted Hyderabad to go with Pakistan. To retain his lok Sabha membership, he expresses his faith in the Constitution, but, at heart he remains anti-India. He is now trying to woo the Dalits to expand his party’s electoral presence.