Varanasi: Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday said that deceased gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari did not die naturally but was 'martyred.'
Addressing the first public meeting of Pichhra Dalit Muslim Morcha (PDM) in Varanasi, AIMIM national president Owaisi alleged that a person who, sacrificed his life for Samajwadi Party, was shot in the leg. "It is people like us (Muslims), who are poisoned to death inside the jail and our houses are razed by bulldozers. I'm not afraid of anyone. Mukhtar Ansari was a human being and in judicial custody. He was poisoned to death inside the jail. He is a martyr and as it is said martyrs never die, they are immortal. It was BJP government's responsibility to provide him necessary security but failed," he said.
At the meeting, Owaisi was seeking support for PDM candidate. Owaisi's AIMIM and Apna Dal(Kameravadi) are both allies in the PDM.
The AIMIM leader had earlier demanded a thorough investigation into Ansari's death. He alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has only one guarantee and that is hatred towards Muslims. The second guarantee is to change the Constitution and third to abolish the Dalit community.
He said that Varanasi does not belong to Prime Minister Narendra Modi but to Ustad Bismillah and Tulsidas as well as the Ganga-Jamuni culture.
He said that the PDM has been formed for justice and is an alternative for the backward people in Uttar Pradesh. "We were voters for 50 years now we have become vote seekers. The BJP, Samajwadi Party and all others have always preached about justice but never acted to implement it," he said. Earlier, he had demanded an independent inquiry into Ansari's death.
The meeting was held at the ground in Nati Imli of the district. Apna Dal Kamerawadi national president Krishna Patel, Sirathu MLA Pallavi Patel and Premchand Bind were present on the occasion.
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