A Owaisi's 'Tubelight' Jab At Himanta Sarma Amid 'Hijab-Clad PM' Remark Row

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi hit out at Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma as their war of words, that began over the former's remark that a woman wearing a hijab would become the prime minister of India, intensified.

The Hyderabad MP called Sarma a "tubelight" who is not familiar with the very Constitution he took an oath on, a day after Sarma said that he is confident that only a Hindu will become the prime minister of India. "In Pakistan's Constitution, only someone from one community can become the country's Prime Minister or President. In our country, Babasaheb Ambedkar (BR Ambedkar-who headed the committee that drafted India's constitution) gave us a Constitution, and he was far wiser and more learned than Sarma. Sadly, some people neither understand the Constitution nor its spirit. This country doesn't belong to any one religion or community - that's its beauty. Even those who don't believe in God have a place here. His thinking is narrow, and he says petty things," Owaisi said.

While on the campaign trail in Maharashtra ahead of local body polls, Owaisi said in Solapur that the Indian constitution that allows any citizen of the country to occupy the top post, adding that it is his dream "that a day will come when a hijab-clad daughter will become the prime minister".

Sarma responded on Saturday that there is no bar on anyone becoming the prime minister. "But India is a Hindu nation with a Hindu civilisation, and we strongly believe that the Prime Minister of India will always be a Hindu," he added.

Maharashtra minister and BJP leader Nitesh Rane said that to fulfil such dreams, Owaisi must moved to Islamabad or Karachi in Pakistan. "Asaduddin Owaisi shouldn't be so audacious in a Hindurashtra. 90 per cent of our population are Hindus. No woman wearing a hijab or burka can become the prime minister or mayor in Mumbai. Those aspiring to be one can go to Islamabad or Karachi. They have no place here," he said.

Hijab, which refers to a headscarf worn by many Muslim women across the world, has been at the centre of a controversy in India with the Hindu right-wing seeking a ban on the hijab in educational institutions.