"For Finance Minister, the benchmark is only Pakistan": Owaisi counters Sitharaman's remark

Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], April 12 : All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday launched a strong attack on Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and said that the benchmark for the minister is Pakistan.

Owaisi's criticism came after Union Minister Sitharaman claimed that "Muslims in India are doing much better than those in Pakistan."

Taking to Twitter, Owaisi said, "For the Finance Minister of Vishwaguru, the benchmark is Pakistan! Muslims in India have flourished DESPITE the Sangh Parivar's anti-constitutional ideology, not BECAUSE of it."

"For how long are Muslims going to be connected to Pakistan? We are not hostages or mascots against Pakistan. We're citizens. We want to be treated with dignity & justice. If a section of Hindus demand better living standards, will you tell them to shut up because majority of people in Somalia are doing worse?" he said.

"The ruling party does not have a single Muslim MP in Lok Sabha. This is damning. But BJP carries it as a badge of honour," Owaisi said in a series of tweets.

Nirmala Sitharaman is on a week-long visit to the US, to participate in the 2023 Spring Meetings of the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Earlier in the day, responding to Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) President Adam S Posen's query about Muslim minorities in India being subjected to violence, Sitharaman said, "India has the second-largest Muslim population in the world, and that population is only growing in numbers."

"If there is a perception, or if there's in reality, their lives are difficult or made difficult with the support of the state, which is what is implied in most of these write-ups, I would ask, will this happen in India in the sense, will the Muslim population be growing than what it was in 1947?" she added.

Reacting to this, the AIMIM chief said, "Populations grow or degrow based on demographic factors, not on the benevolence or malevolence of a government. However, assume that Government has a role, then census after census show a decline in growth of Muslim population in India. Would that mean that the government is malevolent?"

"Population growth or decline is not the only measure of treatment of minorities. In today's India Genocidal Dharam Sansad are ignored by govt; ruling party MPs call for economic boycotts & ask people to keep 'weapons'," he tweeted.

He further said that just one state of Maharashtra alone had 50 anti-Muslim hate rallies. "The state looks away when Muslims face lynchings & violence. Instead, Muslims have to face bulldozers & false imprisonment from the govt," he said further.

Apart from this, Owaisi turned down the invitation of YSRTP Chief YS Sharmila, who asked the AIMIM to be a part of the T-SAVE forum.

The AIMIM Chief said, "We have nothing to do with her or her party."

Earlier today, YSRTP Chief YS Sharmila wrote to Owaisi and invited his party to be part of the T-SAVE forum and join the fight for the rights of Telangana youth and students.

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