HYDERABAD: Slamming the coalition that is being formed to contest against the TRS and AIMIM in the Telangana Assembly elections, All India Majilis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief on Sunday called the Mahakutami as the "modern-day East India Company".
Owaisi, who was speaking at a public meeting in Sangareddy, said, "I want to tell you that this is not a kutami. This is 2018's East India Company. I'll tell you why. Telangana has been made. Now, will the decisions of Telangana be made by Naidu who sits in Vijayawada? Will it be made by Nagpur-based Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh? Will they be made by Congresspeople in Delhi?
"Or will they be made by Telanganites themselves? I want to tell you, that this is your stage, and that you will make the decisions. It is necessary that the modern-day East India Company be sent to where they came from on December 7. Then it is (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi's turn," Owaisi added to a resounding cheer from the audience.
A few days back, the Mahakutami comprising of Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS), Congress and CPI leaders landed in New Delhi to discuss seat sharing. Congress has reportedly decided to contest 95 Assembly seats and leave the remaining 24 seats for the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and other parties.
On Sunday, Owaisi also condemned the incident from Warangal where a priest of a Saibaba temple was allegedly killed by an Imam. "I condemn the incident. In Telangana, a Yakub cannot kill a Satyanarayana. Similarly, a Yakub cannot kill a Satyanarayana," the Hyderabad MP said.
He added, "This is a very condemnable incident. The police needs to take action against that. The state is the example of Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb. We have composite culture in the place where we have been living for years. Strict action needs to be taken."
On October 26, Satyanarayana was performing pooja with the speaker turned on. A local imam, Syed Hussain, reportedly asked him to turn off the speaker. However, when the priest decline, Hussain assaulted him and priest died at Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences in the city.