All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen president Asaduddin Owaisi on Friday took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking countrymen to light candles, lamps and torches for nine minutes on Sunday from 9 p.m. as a ‘tube-light’ idea.
Mr Owaisi took to Twitter and said that instead of informing the country about aid to States and relief to the poor, India ‘got some new drama’.
“This country is not an event management company. The people of India are humans who too have dreams & hopes. Don’t reduce our lives to gimmicks of 9 mins, @PMOIndia . We wanted to know what aid states will get & what relief the poor will receive Instead we got some new drama (sic),” he tweeted.
Quoting media reports, Mr. Owaisi said that the lockdown was unplanned and that it is the poorest who are suffering the most. “You have left them to the charity of the rich & limited economic abilities of states. When CMs asked you for relief, you ask them to switch off their lights?” he tweeted
In a separate development, and touching upon the burial and cremation guidelines, Mr Owaisi said that at the time of burials no more than five persons should gather and that the larger responsibility is to not put others at risk. The guidelines include giving the body a shower with water mixed with disinfectant.
Thanking Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao for taking into account the input of Muslim clerics like All India Muslim Personal Law Board office-bearer Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rahmani and Mufti Khalil Ahmed from the Jamia Nizamia, Mr. Owaisi reiterated: “It is incumbent on all Muslims to ensure that namaz-e-janazah is not a crowded affair. Ideally 2 people should participate in the tadfeen & offer namaz-e-janazah at the graveyard itself.”
