BJP criticises Owaisi over remarks on PM Modi’s Uzbekistan honour; Shiv Sena says ‘maybe Babur is in your DNA’
New Delhi, Aug 31 (IANS) The BJP on Monday attacked AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi over his remarks regarding Prime Minister Narendra Modi being conferred Uzbekistan’s highest state honour and said that “probably Babur is in his DNA.”
The remarks came after Owaisi on Sunday turned Prime Minister Modi’s latest foreign honour into a political taunt against the BJP, pointing out that the honour came from the country from which the founder of the Mughal Empire Babur originated.
Owaisi said he congratulated the BJP and noted that Uzbekistan, from where Babur came to India, had conferred an award on the Prime Minister.
Reacting to PM Modi being conferred the Order of ‘Oliy Darajali Dustlik’, Uzbekistan’s highest state award, the Hyderabad MP had said, “I congratulate the BJP; the very country from which Babur came to India has conferred an award upon the Prime Minister.”
Owaisi noted that Babur belonged to the Fergana Valley in present-day Uzbekistan and said it has become routine for Prime Minister Modi to receive honours during his foreign visits. “Wherever the Prime Minister goes these days, he returns with an award. Congratulations,” Owaisi said.
Reacting to the remarks, BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain told IANS, “The chief of AIMIM Asaduddin Owaisi, is not liking the honour received by the Prime Minister. He is saying Babar came from here. If Babar came, that country is different. If Prime Minister Narendra Modi got the highest honour of that country, then this is not PM Modi’s honour, it is India’s honour. In the whole world, whether it is a CIS country or an Islamic country, everyone has given their highest honour to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”
Union Minister of State, Satish Chandra Dubey, also criticised Owaisi, saying he frequently makes “frivolous remarks”.
“Owaisi ji needs something to say about one thing or another. Neither the people nor the media are taking him seriously. He keeps making extremely frivolous remarks,” he said.
Shiv Sena spokesperson Shaina NC also hit out at Owaisi, saying he “sees Babur in everything”.
“Asaduddin Owaisi, you see Babur in everything. This is your problem. Uzbekistan honours the Prime Minister, and you have a problem with that, so you bring up Babur. Probably, Babur is in your DNA, and that’s why you can’t think beyond him. That’s where you start, and that’s where you end. When the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh talks about nationalism and the global world being one community, even there, you believe that Babur is your ideal,” she told IANS.
Meanwhile, SP spokesperson Ashutosh Verma said Muslim invaders and Mughal rulers should not be clubbed together.
“Muslim invaders and Mughal rulers are two different things. Owaisi is trying to lump them together. The Mughals were also part of India’s history, and during their time, India made significant progress as well. The country also suffered destruction at the hands of invaders. You cannot put both things in the same box,” Verma said.
–IANS
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