All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday accused the Trinamool Congress leadership of doublespeak and hypocrisy after his party was denied permission for a public meeting in Metiaburz, ahead of the upcoming assembly polls.
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Speaking to the media at party headquarters in Darusslaaam, Mr Owaisi said, “TMC MPs speak about freedom of expression, constitution, dissent in Parliament. But they have two faces. They say one thing in Delhi and do the opposite in West Bengal. If I want to conduct a public meeting there, then why are permissions being denied?” He said that the ‘secular-liberals’ who listen to these speeches in the Parliament and applaud should think about the state of affaris.
The Hyderabad parliamentarian underscored that other parties such as the Congress, the left parties and the Bharatiya Janata Party have been having public meetings, but the AIMIM has been denied this ‘right’. "Very unfortunate that TMC is not giving us permission," he said.
Mr. Owaisi demanded that police officers responsible for sanctioning permission must be moved and claimed that they are a threat to free and fair elections. “We will inform the Election Commission of India, that wherever our public meetings were planned, police officers there should be immediately transferred as soon as the code of conduct is announced. This is because, even before the code of conduct is announced, permission is denied. In this scenario, how will the election be free and fair?”
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In a separate development, Mehdipatnam corporator and former Mayor Mohammed Majid Hussain, who is overseeing party affairs in West Bengal, too held a press conference on the issue.