Owaisi returns home amid ‘hate’ speech row

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Akbaruddin Owaisi returned home from London today amid the row over his "hate speech" and swiftly sought four days time from the police to appear before it even as the BJP mounted a fresh offensive against Andhra Pradesh government accusing it of going soft on the MIM MLA.

Owaisi, who was asked to appear before the Nirmal police today, landed in the city from London, where he was undergoing treatment for an undisclosed disease, and promptly petitioned the police to grant him four days time.
The police, according to a senior officer, is yet to take a call on whether to allow his plea.

The Opposition BJP, which has been demanding strict action against Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen floor leader in the state Assembly, attacked the Congress government for going "soft" on him, owing to political reasons.

"Why this delay in taking action. Why this lenient attitude when there is a universal condemnation of his (MIM MLA's) highly objectionable comments. It is the Congress which helped MIM to grow. They still share power in Hyderabad Corporation. Is this the reason why they are soft?," senior BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu said addressing reporters.

MIM had recently withdrawn support to Congress both at the Centre and in Andhra Pradesh but both parties continue to share power in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC).

The Congress government has failed to take action against the MIM leaders promptly though they violated the law on many occasions in the past, Naidu alleged and said, "Congress will have to answer for its inaction."

"Every word said by him (Owaisi) at public meetings in Adilabad and Nizamabad districts was highly provocative and objectionable," Naidu said, adding the Congress government lacked courage to act against the MIM leader.