HYDERABAD: AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi slammed the West Bengal government for denying him permission to hold a rally to kick off his party’s election campaign in the poll-bound state. Speaking to the media a day after being denied permission to hold a rally in the Metiabruz area of Kolkata, he alleged that the Trinamool Congress had two different faces. He said on the one hand, TMC MPs cried foul over “freedom of expression, constitution, and dissent,” and on the other, acted in quite a contrasting manner in West-Bengal. “It’s their hypocrisy,” he said. He said it was unfortunate that the TMC, which speaks about democracy in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, was not allowing MIM to air its viewpoint.
“I can speak against Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, BJP and RSS in Gujarat, can I not do it in Bengal?” he questioned.He said he would complain to the EC to transfer all police officers responsible for the denial.
“You (TMC government) are compelling us to complain to the EC. If those officers are deployed, the elections will not be free and fair,” he said. Responding to a question on forming an alliance with Furfura Sharif cleric Abbas Siddiqui, who recently floated the Indian Secular Front, he said they would decide on it later.