Asaduddin Owaisi to launch UP poll campaign today

Asaduddin Owaisi.

All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi will launch his party’s campaign for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly election on September 7 with a public meeting in Ayodhya,

Owaisi, a Hyderabad member of parliament (MP), will address a conference of “vanchit-shoshit samaj” (deprived and victimised communities) in Ayodhya to begin his three-day tour of the poll-bound state. After this, Owaisi will address public meetings in Sultanpur and Barabanki districts on September 8 and 9.

Apart from Muslims, the party has invited Dalits, backwards and upper-caste Hindus to the conference.

Also, read: How Asaduddin Owaisi is emerging as the rising star of Muslim politics in India

“The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh has harassed and exploited not just Muslims, but other communities too. The AIMIM has decided to fight for the rights of the people suppressed by the BJP government by organizing the series of ‘vanchit-shoshit samaj’ conferences across Uttar Pradesh,” AIMIM state unit president Shaukat Ali told reporters ahead of the conference.

The Ayodhya conference by Owaisi comes in the backdrop of a row over AIMIM referring to the Ayodhya district by its old name of Faizabad.

The local seers have raised objection to this and threatened that they will not allow the rally to take place if the word “Faizabad” is not dropped from the posters or if the posters are not taken down. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had renamed Faizabad to Ayodhya on November 6, 2018.

Also Read | No alliance with AIMIM for 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls: Mayawati

The AIMIM has announced it will field 100 candidates in Uttar Pradesh for the elections to 403-member assembly. The party is also a member of the Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha, an alliance of smaller political parties.

AIMIM failed to win a seat out of the seven it contested in West Bengal. But, in the Bihar assembly elections 2020, the party won five seats  of the 20 it contested 20 in the Muslim-dominated Seemanchal region.

Uttar Pradesh is going to polls early in 2022.