‘Voting among Muslims will increase’: Owaisi rejects controversy around polling during Ramzan
People who are worried about this should tell the world what they do for Muslims during the rest of the year, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi added.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday rejected concerns about elections being held in the month of Ramzan. The controversy surrounding this is wrong and uncalled for, he said in a video released on Twitter.
His statement came a day after a Trinamool Congress leader from West Bengal claimed that the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal will inconvenience people during Ramzan and the summer months. A Samajwadi Party leader also said that fewer Muslims may be interested in voting during the month of Ramzan.
The Election Commission on Sunday announced the dates for the 2019 General Elections. The polls will be held in seven phases, starting April 11 and ending May 19. The results will be declared on May 23. Assembly elections for Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim will also be held simultaneously.
“I would like to tell those parties that they should not take the responsibility of Muslims,” Owaisi said in his message. “Elections will come and go, Muslims will undertake roza, will celebrate Ramzan will full religious fervour, will fast also, will read the namaz also.” It is “rubbish” to suggest that keeping roza, or fasting during Ramzan, will affect polling numbers, he added. “On the contrary, I believe the voting percentage among Muslims will increase as they are filled with much more religious fervour during Ramzan.”
Fasting is obligatory on Muslims. We cook, work, clean & take care of our families while fasting. It’s an insult to Muslims to say that Ramzan will affect our voting.
— Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) March 11, 2019
In Ramzan, Shaitan is enchained - inshallah one will use their vote to defeat his agents pic.twitter.com/HxfmhHvzML
Besides, if Parliament has to be constituted before June 3, then the Election Commission will definitely have to complete the election process before it, which will fall during the month of Ramzan, which will start on May 5 and finish on June 4, he said. “It’s wrong to say elections should not take place during Ramzan,” the Hyderabad parliamentarian said.
He asked people who claimed that voting will be affected by Ramzan questions such as whether Muslims refrain from work when fasting and if they do not go to office and conduct business. “The people who are so worried about this, they should tell us what they do for Muslims for the rest of the 11 months,” he said. “This is a wrong controversy and polling figures will increase.”
