HYDERABAD: AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi has hit out at Uttar Pradesh Shia Central Waqf Board chairman Waseem Rizvi, who recently wrote to the prime minister seeking shutting down Madrassas, alleging these Muslim seminaries encouraged students to join terrorism.
Terming Rizvi's remarks as "reckless" and calling him a "joker and bufoon", Owaisi demanded that he tell where Madrassas urged pupils to join terror outfits.
"Mr Waseem Rizvi is the biggest joker, the most opportunistic person. He has sold his soul to the RSS and I challenge this buffoon and joker to show one Shia or Sunni or any other Madrassa wherein such teachings are imparted.
"This man is talking in a very reckless and general way. If he has the proof, he should show it and go to the home minister. If not, he should keep quiet and apologise to the whole nation," Owaisi said.
He alleged that Muslim minorities are already under attack.
"Such sort of general statements are not good for the nation. As it is, day in and day out, Muslims are being targeted under the garb of cow (protection) or by vigilantes or nationalism," Owaisi, Lok Sabha member from Hyderabad, said.
The UP Shia Central Waqf Board recently urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to shut down Madrassas, alleging that education imparted in these Islamic schools encourages students to join terrorist ranks.
In a letter to the prime minister, Rizvi demanded that Madrassas be replaced by schools affiliated to the CBSE or ICSE with an optional subject of Islamic education.