Reacting to AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi's statements, where he asked Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to not worry about Indian Muslims, BJP MLC from Telangana Ramchander Rao said that his party has always thought of Muslims as real Indians.
"What Asaduddin Owaisi must think is that the BJP has always believed that Indian Muslims are the real Indians because when they had the opportunity to go away during partition, they decided to stay in India. Therefore, there is nothing new in these statements by Owaisi. He has only repeated what Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah have said. We believe that they are Indians as they are here with us," Rao told on Sunday.
He, however, criticized Owaisi for his earlier acts of "inciting the Muslims against the Central government", but welcomed the change in his stance.
"He has been inciting the Indian Muslims against the Indian Government till now. Now that the CAA has come, they are taking the Indian flag in hand and singing the national anthem, we welcome it," he added.
He said that the change in the tone of the AIMIM MP from Telangana had come after hearing the statements of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister of the country.
Earlier on Saturday, Owaisi had slammed Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan for peddling a seven-year-old violence video from Bangladesh as a case of what he claimed to be "Indian police's pogrom against Muslims in UP".
The Hyderabad MP further said that Khan should worry about the state of affairs in Pakistan rather than worrying about the Indian Muslims. "Pakistan's Prime Minister posted a video from Bangladesh falsely claiming it to be from India. Mr Khan you worry about your own country. We have rejected the wrong theory of Jinnah, we are proud Indian Muslims and will remain so," Owaisi had said at an event.
( With inputs from ANI )