Asaduddin Owaisi says protests against the Waqf (Amendment) Act would continue till it is withdrawn

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday said protests against the Waqf (Amendment) Act would continue till it is withdrawn.

Addressing a public meeting organised by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMIPLB) at Darussalam, the AIMIM headquarters here, he said protests against the Act would continue, similar to the agitation against the now-scrapped farm laws.

"You (PM Narendra Modi) will have to take back this law. The way our farmer brothers have shown the path, we will continue to agitate in the same way. Until the law is not withdrawn, there will be peaceful protests in the country," he said.

He asked the crowd: "Are you (gathering) ready for a long-drawn democratic battle? If you are ready, promise yourself that we will continue to protest till this black law is not withdrawn and we will not step back."

Referring to the triple talaq law, CAA and religious conversion legislations in BJP-ruled states, Owaisi alleged that PM Modi has been attacking the religious identity of Muslims for the past 11 years. "Now, in the name of Uniform Civil Code, he (Modi) wants to take away our Shariat from us."

The AIMIM leader also claimed that the exclusion of the Dawoodi Bohras from the Waqf (Amendment) bill was a move to divide and weaken the Muslim community.

Taking exception to a BJP leader's remarks on the



Supreme Court, Owaisi said, "When verdicts like those in Ayodhya and other cases go against Muslims, we don't lash out... Even when the decision goes against what we wish for, we accept it. We accept because we believe in constitutional morality. But, these Sangh Parivar people are anti-constitution people..."

He further alleged that the BJP is "undermining the Constitution and threatening with a religious war." "Mr Modi, who got radicalised? You are in power. Your people got radicalised. They got so radicalised that they are threatening the court that there will be a religious war," he said.

Speaking on the occasion, DMK MP MM Abdulla said the party supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin had asked him to convey to the gathering that the party stood in solidarity with not just the minorities of Tamil Nadu, but with the minorities of the country.

Several other leaders, including AIMPLB president Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rehmani, also addressed the gathering. The AIMPLB announced a campaign called 'Save Waqf, Save Constitution' to be launched in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

As part of it, a series of activities are planned, including blackout protests, round-table discussions, Women's public gathering, human chain protest, sit-in protest and public meetings. A central sit-in protest will be held in Hyderabad on June 1, the AIMPLB said in a release.