New Delhi: The All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen’s (AIMIM) Uttar Pradesh President Shaukat Ali’s controversial remarks about ‘those who threaten Muslims’ keeping mistresses and having illegitimate children has led to an FIR against the Muslim leader.
“They keep going after Muslims…sometimes they say Muslims produce more children, sometimes they talk about us marrying twice or thrice. If we marry twice, we give respect to both the wives. But you marry once and keep three mistresses and no one gets to know. You don’t give them any respect,” said the AIMIM leader while addressing a rally in UP’s Sambhal Saturday, a video of which has since gone viral.
He later clarified that his statements were not against a particular religion but against those who do such things.
Speaking about Ali’s speech, Hero Bajpai, UP Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson told ThePrint, “I can’t comment on what someone has said on one’s religion, but I can say that the respect women have in India is unparalleled. Here, women are considered Durga and Lakshmi and when one enters a temple, the pujari (priest) asks you to bring your wife along next time.”
“In India, women got the right to vote the same day we got independence. Women are considered the ardhangini (the other half) of their husbands and are equal beings in India,” added Bajpai.
At the rally, giving the example of Mughal emperor Akbar marrying Jodha Bai, Ali had also said that Muslims were responsible for “uplifting” others along with their community.
“Worms and insects like you have been ruled by us for 832 years and you used to do ji huzoori with your hands folded at the back and now you are threatening us…. Who is more secular than us? Akbar married Jodha Bai. We are uplifting your people, too, along with us. But you have a problem. One sadhu says Muslims should be butchered. Why? Are we like carrots, radishes, onions?” said Ali.
Commenting on the Supreme Court’s hijab verdict, he said that “Hindutva will not decide who will wear what in the country, but the Constitution will.”
A complaint was filed against Ali Saturday itself by Sambhal Police for his “disrespectful and derogatory” statement allegedly made against the Hindu Community, said Superintendent of Police (SP), Sambhal, Chakresh Mishra.
According to SP Mishra, cases have been registered under sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, language, etc), 295A (deliberate and malicious act intended to outrage religious feelings), and 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and further investigations are underway.
Meanwhile, there has been no official statement from the AIMIM or its chief Asaduddin Owaisi on the matter.
With inputs from Shikha Salaria
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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