AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi very late on Wednesday took to Twitter to boast how his intervention led to release of 90 odd Islamist rioters who chanted the murderous ‘sar tan se juda’ beheading slogans.
1. On my representation to DCP South, ~90 protesting youth from Shah Ali Banda & Asha Talkies have been released. AIMIM MLA Ahmed bin Abdullah Balala & our corporators have been working all night to de-escalate the situation. I have been in touch with them & police too #Hyderabad pic.twitter.com/7WxDx9HuKd
— Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) August 24, 2022
He said that on his representation to the DCP South, about 90 odd Islamists were released. He claimed that his MLAs and corporators have been ‘working all night’ to de-escalate the situation. This comes at a time when reports have suggested that fresh chants calling for beheading were made on Wednesday by an Islamist mob which even included two AIMIM corporators.
3. This situation is a direct result of Raja Singh’s hate speech. He must be sent to jail at the earliest. I also reiterate my appeal to maintain peace. #Hyderabad is our home, it should not fall prey to communalism
— Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) August 24, 2022
Owaisi then informed the Islamists were released at 1:30 am. He then accused the police of using ‘disproportionate force’ and barged into someone’s home and detained five youths. He then blamed the violence and hateful beheading calls on ex-BJP leader Raja Singh’s ‘hate speech’, which was a satirical skit in response to ‘comedian’ Munawar Faruqui’s comedy skits where he had mocked Hindu gods and goddesses. Singh, in his viral video, had not taken name of any divine figures of Islam.
Owaisi had earlier ‘condemned‘ the ‘sar tan se juda’ comments. The Hyderabad MP had asked people to not take law into their hands and called for FSL for getting voice of Raja Singh tested with the audio in the viral video.
This is not the first time a mainstream politician has normalised ‘sar tan se juda’ hateful slogans calling for beheading of ‘blasphemer’. Few months prior, NCP leaders like Imtiaz Jaleel had provoked a mob to hang ex-BJP leader Nupur Sharma on crossroads for her allegedly blasphemous statements on Prophet Muhammad. Similarly, Congress leader had threatened of violence and turning Singh’s constituency into ‘ashes’ over his viral video. All these politicians are normalising violence and beheading calls.
In fact, not just normalising and justifying, none of these have ever condemned that beheading or murder should not be punishment for ‘blasphemy’. Celebrity Muslim journalists like Rana Ayyub, Arfa Khanum Sherwani and even ‘fact-checkers’ like Alt News’ Mohammed Zubair – none of them have said it in as many words that no one should be killed over ‘blasphemy’.
