“I’m number one citizen of India”: Asaduddin Owaisi to Yogi

HYDERABAD: The AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi lashed out at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath again over his “Nizam” comment on him, saying Indian Muslims had rejected Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s two-nation theory and he is a citizen of this country “by choice”.

He was responding to Yogi Adityanath’s recent remarks at a rally in Telangana that Owaisi would have to “run away” from Hyderabad, just like the Nizam, if the BJP came to power in the state.

“I am number one citizen of India, an equal citizen and I am not a tenant,” Mr Owaisi was addressing the media at the at Hyderabad Press Club.

He stated “We rejected Jinnah’s theory. We always accept that India is our homeland. You cannot treat us as second-class citizens. The BJP’s ideology is to treat Muslims not as equal citizens but as unequal citizens.”

Mr Owaisi had also said Adityanath was speaking the language of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP and that he was ignorant about history.