Asaduddin Owaisi rejects RSS chief's claim that Muslim population is increasing

AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi attacked RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat's Vijayadashmi rally speech, claiming that it was full of lies and half truths.

Mr. Owaisi, who put out a series of tweets Friday night, criticised Mr. Bhagwat over the latter's comments on population policy, abrogation of Article 370 and others.

"As usual, RSS Mohan's speech today was full of lies & half-truths. He called for a population policy & repeated the lie that Muslim & Christian population has increased. Muslim population growth rate has had the sharpest decline among all. There's no 'demographic imbalance'," Mr. Owaisi said.

What one has to worry about are the social evils of child marriages and sex-selective abortions, the Hyderabad MP said.

He said "84% of married kids are Hindus". Between 2001-2011, Muslim female-Male ratio leaped from 936 to 951 women for every 1000 Muslim men. But, the Hindu ratio only rose from 931 to 939, he claimed.

India has already achieved replacement level fertility rates, without any coercive population policy, he said.

"Similarly, fact-free Mohan is worried about India's ageing population & the need to have younger population to help the ageing. He should tell his student Modi about it," he said in a tweet.

"No man has destroyed India's demographic dividend like he has. Majority of India is young: they lack education, government support & jobs. What's the future of a country whose PM cannot promise anything more than a few pakora stalls," the AIMIM leader said.

Saying that population control policy would mean fewer youths of working age, he asked as to how will they support an ageing population.

"Mohan called Taliban terrorists" and it is a direct attack on Mr. Modi, whose government "hosted" them in



our embassy, he said.

If they are terrorists, will government list them as such under UAPA, he wondered.

Referring to Mr. Bhagwat's reported comments that people in Kashmir were "reaping the benefits of repealing Article 370", Mr. Owaisi asked if it is with "29 targeted killings of civilians in this year". He also asked if it is with internet shutdowns and mass detentions.

On Mr. Bhagwat "demanding" NRC, the AIMIM leader claimed that it is nothing but a weapon to doubt citizens' Indianness and harass them.

Alleging that Mr. Modi failed in stopping Chinese soldiers from coming into Ladakh, Sikkim and Uttarakhand, he said Mr. Bhagwat did not utter a word about "how our brave-hearts were treated by Chinese".

Mr. Bhagwat mentioned about Muslim patriots like Ashfaqullah Khan and the Muslims who had fought in the armies of Hindu Kings against so-called Muslim invaders, Mr. Owaisi said.

Observing that Ashfaquallah Khan and Ram Prasad Bismil were great friends, he asked as to who destroyed such friendships "in the name of Fatherland and Holy land".

"The record of Muslim freedom fighters is such that even Mohan is compelled to praise them. The same cannot be said about RSS & its ideologues. They were always epitomes of anti-national activities & cowardice. Savarkar advocated use of rape against Muslim women during war," Mr. Owaisi alleged.

RSS cannot coexist in a society that wants to progress economically, he claimed. Society must choose between RSS' cowardice and Ashfaqullah Khan's bravery.The society must choose between "RSS's betrayal of India & Gandhi's patriotism; RSS's ideology of whining/resentment & Maulana Azad's intellect & education," Mr. Owaisi tweeted.