‘Hijab-clad woman can be PM’: Asaduddin Owaisi contrasts India’s Constitution with Pakistan

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi

• Owaisi hopes a hijab-clad woman could become India's Prime Minister one day
• He criticized rising hate against Muslims and called for equal opportunity
• Owaisi criticized UAPA changes for extending undertrial detentions.

Did our AI summary help?

AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Friday said India’s Constitution allows any citizen to rise to the highest office, expressing hope that a “hijab-clad daughter” could one day become the country’s Prime Minister.

Speaking at an election meeting in Solapur, Maharashtra, Owaisi contrasted India’s constitutional framework with Pakistan’s, arguing that India guarantees equal opportunity irrespective of religion.

Addressing an election rally on Friday in Maharashtra's Solapur ahead of the January 15 civic polls, Owaisi said, "The Constitution of Pakistan says that only a person belonging to one religion can become the country's prime minister or the president. But the Constitution, written by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, clearly states that any citizen can become the prime minister, the chief minister of a state or even a mayor." "By the grace of Almighty, the day will come, when neither I nor the present generation will be around, but a daughter wearing a hijab would become the prime minister of India," the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president said.

"I am confident that the day will surely come...The hate you are spreading against Muslims will not last long," he said, targeting the ruling party.

Owaisi also criticised what he described as rising hate against Muslims, saying such politics would not last.

“The hate that you are spreading against Muslims, this will not go on for long. Those who spread hate will come to an end. When love becomes common, then they will realise how people's mind was poisoned,” he said.

Reacting to it, BJP MP Anil Bonde said Owaisi was making irresponsible statements, and accused him of presenting only half-truth. Claiming that Muslim women were against wearing hijab as nobody wanted subjugation, he said women in Iran were protesting against this practice.

He alleged that demographic imbalance was rising in India, and urged Hindus to unite. Reacting sharply, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla challenged Owaisi to reflect those ideals within his own party.

“Hijabwali will become PM says Miyaan Owaisi. Miyaan Owaisi – constitution stops nobody but I challenge you to make a Pasmanda or Hijabwali as your president of AIMIM first,” Poonawalla said in a post on X.

Separately, Owaisi criticised former home minister P Chidambaram over amendments to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, saying they have led to prolonged incarceration of undertrials.

“Using this very basis of ‘by any other means’, which the Congress had legislated, and about which I had already said that it would be misused, today two young men, who are in jail for five and a half years, didn't get bail,” he said, referring to recent court decisions.

His remarks come amid intense campaigning ahead of Mumbai’s civic elections, scheduled for January 15, with results due on January 16.