Akbaruddin in trouble for hate speech

Akbaruddin in trouble for hate speech

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Hyderabad: Akbaruddin Owaisi, the firebrand leader of the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), was on Friday taken to court over his disparaging remarks against Hindus in a hate speech, the main content of which was that Muslims would need just 15 minutes without the police to show 100 crore Hindus who is more powerful.
    In a complaint filed against the MIM legislator, an advocate said he had stumbled upon You-Tube uploaded hate speech made at a public meeting at Adilabad on December 24, about 300 km from the city.
    The VII additional chief metropolitan magistrate after admitting the petition said the matter will be heard on December 31.
    Akbaruddin, who is the younger brother of MIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi, said Hindus have so many gods and goddesses, and every eight days, there are new gods coming up. “We knew about Lakshmi, but who is Bhagyalakshmi, we are not aware,” Akbar said referring to the Bhagyalakshmi temple abutting the historic Charminar.
    The MIM had been complaining against a semi-permanent structure over the Bhagyalakshmi temple and finally parted ways with the Congress party after weeks of violence.Akbaruddin’s hate speech saw a huge buzz created on the social media all day and it was also trending on Twitter.
    “Inflammatory speech by MLA Akbaruddin - Remove police for 15 mins, We will finish off 100 crore Hindus,” tweeted television commentator and interviewer Karan Thapar, which was re-tweeted by journalist and columnist Swapan Dasgupta. Netizens clamour for action against MLA Akbaruddin
Hyderabad: “India, we Muslims are just 25 crore and you Hindus are over 100 crore. But please get the police out for 15 minutes and we will show you who is more powerful,” said Akbaruddin, a fair short-haired man in his 30s and always known for his fiery anti-Hindu speeches and penchant for controversies.
    Social media went overboard over this comment and screamed for action, with dozens of comments on Twitter and many uploading the video of his speech on Facebook and other social networking sites. The petitioner Kashimshetty Karunasagar, alleged that Akbaruddin through his derogatory and inflammatory speech, hurt sentiments of millions of people and sought strong action. “My request to the court is to take cognizance of the case under 295-A, 298, 153-A of IPC and conduct the trial against Akbaruddin Owaisi,'' the petitioner said. MIM brass were quiet on Akbaruddin’s remarks and some analysts said the party, which was supporting the Congressruled state government with seven legislators before breaking off, is trying to make inroads outside Old City.
    Its primary target, they say is to woo about 8lakh Muslims living in the southern AP comprising about 10% of the total voters. It has some 11 members in the Nanded municipal corporation in Maharashtra, which some say are signs of the party moving beyond the borders of AP. In recent months, both MIM and Hindu leaders have been in a war of words to gain political mileage and control over the Charminar area.
    Two weeks ago, Praveen Togadia, a top VHP leader had threatened to turn Hyderabad into Ayodhya. “Muslims should carefully listen that if they try to stop Hindus from going to Bhagyalakshmi temple, then we will turn the temple into Ayodhya. This means that lakhs of people from all parts of the country will come to Hyderabad. It will be a question of Ayodhya, Ram Setu or Bhagyalakshmi mandir,” he said. MIM corporator arrested
    Special Investigation Team (SIT) personnel on Friday night arrested Shah Ali Banda corporator Mohammed Ghouse for his alleged involvement in the recent communal riots in Old City. Charminar and surrounding areas witnessed largescale rioting in November over the Bhagyalakshmi temple row. Besides Ghouse, two other MIM activists were also arrested for indulging in the rioting. TNN