A post (here, here and here) with a clip of Asaduddin Owaisi’s speech is being shared on social media in which he is seen saying ‘Will Yogi always be the Chief Minister, Modi always be the Prime Minister? We Muslims are completely silent because of the time…Allah with his might and power will destroy you. Things will change according to the time, who will come to save you then? Let’s understand the context of this speech and who is it addressed at.
Claim: Asaduddin Owaisi delivered a communal hate speech.
Fact: Asaduddin Owaisi’s speech in the video is from a meeting held in Kanpur in 2021. The full speech is about 45 minutes long. A tiny portion of it was edited and shared in the post. In his speech, he said that SI Gajender Pal Singh had urinated on 80-year-old Mohammad Rafiq and pulled his chin at Kanpur Rasulabad Police Station. Further, he said that if this is true, it hurts me, not shame. After that, Asaduddin Owaisi addressed the UP Police and said that Yogi and Modi will not stay in office for long, asking who will protect the police after both of them are not in power. These words were not directed at Hindus but at the UP police. Therefore, the claim made in the post is Misleading.
A search of Asaduddin Owaisi’s speech on the internet using relevant keywords yielded the full version of the 41-second-long clip in the viral post. We also found a few news articles (here, here). On 12 December 2021, Owaisi addressed a rally in Kanpur. Its duration is around 45 minutes. The viral video starts from around 40:22 seconds of this speech. Here, he addressed the Uttar Pradesh Police and said that, “Yogi and Modi will not stay in office for long… We will remember your oppression. After that, he said, ‘Who will protect you?”. Nowhere in the viral video did Owaisi direct this towards Hindus.
A few minutes earlier in the speech, at exactly 39:13 seconds, he said that he got information that SI Gajender Pal Singh had urinated on 80-year-old Mohammad Rafiq and pulled his chin at Kanpur Rasulabad Police Station. He later said that ‘if it is true, it hurts me and does not cause shame.’ Then he addressed the police, where he said from 40:17 ‘I would like to tell such police officers that Yogi and Modi will not stay in office for long..”Who will protect you?’ Nowhere in this entire passage does he address the Hindus. There were also many news stories about this speech in 2021. They can be found here and here.
When this speech went viral in 2021, the BJP criticized (here and here) Owaisi for allegedly delivering a hate speech. He later clarified through a tweet thread.
To sum up, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi’s comments against the UP police in an old speech are shared now as if he threatended Hindus.
