A clip from Asaduddin Owaisi's speech in Kanpur has been widely shared on social media.
Asaduddin Owaisi, leader of Muslim party AIMIM, clarified Friday that his remarks while campaigning in UP were not a brazen threat issued against police officers.
He was forced to offer this defence after an excerpt from his speech in Kanpur went viral. In the clip, he is heard saying, "Please remember, Yogi will not be the Chief Minister always. Modi will not be the Prime Minister forever. We Muslims will not forget your injustice. We will remember this injustice. Allah will destroy you through his strength. Things will change. Who will come to save you then? When Yogi will return to his mutt and Modi will retreat to the mountains, then who will come?"
Mr Owaisi said he made this remark after listing the atrocities against Muslims by the UP police and said this crucial context has been edited out to deliberately misrepresent his comments.
Critics of Mr Owaisi accused him of making a hate speech... and said it is as deplorable as those made by Hindutva leaders at a three-day event in Haridwar. Those offensive speeches which called for violation against Muslims went unpunished till yesterday. Despite them being on camera, neither state officials nor the cops took action against the Hindutva leaders who made the speeches. Talking to NDTV yesterday, the speech-givers said they neither regret their communal remarks nor fear any consequences. An FIR or police case against them was finally registered yesterday - not by officials, who should have taken action under the law, but by Trinamool Congress leader and RTI activist Saket Gokhale.
Mr Owaisi's speech has been criticized by other politicians including Priyanka Chaturvedi of the Shiv Sena who described it as shameful.
BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi compared him to Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, and said AIMIM leaders are used to making such remarks.
"...soul of Jinnah resides in Owaisi," Mr Trivedi said, according to news agency PTI, adding that the Hyderabad MP's remarks are similar to that of Jinnah made in 1946, a year before partition, while talking about direct action.