(Image source from: Tollywood.net)

'Nathuram Godse Followers Might Kill Me': Asaduddin Owaisi:- President of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Asaduddin Owaisi on Wednesday said he might be killed by Nathuram Godse’s supporters over his objection towards the recent decision of the government to revoke Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

Nathuram Godse was the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi.

“The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party wants to change the demography of Kashmir through delimitation of Assembly constituencies to have its own chief minister.,” Owaisi alleged.

In response to the allegations he is receiving from politicians that he helped Pakistan's propaganda, Owaisi told reporters here that such charges (against him) were not new.

“My belief is that somebody would shoot me one day. The followers of Godse can do so with me...If Mahatma Gandhi was shot, who is Owaisi. As long as I am alive, allegations would continue to be made,” he said while claiming that he had nothing to do with Pakistan.

Asked if he thought delimitation would happen in Kashmir, the Hyderabad MP said, "They want to do it. That is what the Election Commission said. The whole idea is to change the demography of Kashmir. The whole idea is to have a non-Muslim chief minister from the BJP only."

“That is why, this is a step in changing the demography of that state and that is why it has been bifurcated,” he added and asserted that Kashmir was an integral part of India and would remain so.

Owaisi alleged that the BJP had a love for Kashmir, but not for Kashmiris.

When emphasized that the conditions prevailing in Jammu and Kashmir were special, he said the fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 19 and other articles of the Constitution could not be taken away.

"This government has forgotten constitutionalism," he said.

The AIMIM chief also claimed that the government would remove certain special provisions in states like Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur, Assam and Himachal Pradesh.

"I am telling the people of Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur, Assam that it will happen there. These people would remove (special provisions) in Himachal also...," he said.

Referring to the BJP raising the issue of the day of the merger of the former Hyderabad state of the Nizam with the Indian Union (September 17, 1948) not being celebrated officially, Owaisi said he felt proud that Hyderabad became part of the Indian Union.

"About 10 lakh jobs would be lost in the automobile industry, but the 'liberation day' is being talked about," he said.

At an Eid Milap meeting at his party office on Tuesday, Owaisi said the government's decision to bifurcate Jammu and Kashmir into two Union territories was against the principles of political orientation as the state Assembly's views should have been taken before applying such a decision.

About actor Rajinikanth praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah as Lord Krishna and Arjuna over revoking special status to Jammu and Kashmir, Owaisi said, "Who are the Pandavas in this? Who are the Kauravas? So you would like to make Kashmir the Mahabharat? One actor has said, the other actors are happy. Feel happy."

The Congress in Tamil Nadu had also derided Rajinikanth for his comments, asking him to "read the Mahabharat properly".

(Video Source: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen)

By Sowmya Sangam