Owaisi demands immediate arrest of Yati Narsinghanand

Hyderabad: All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) President Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday demanded the immediate arrest of Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati for making blasphemous remarks against Prophet Mohammad.

He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should take immediate action against him for hurting the sentiments of Muslims.

The Hyderabad MP said PM Modi who talks of ‘sab ka sath sab ka vikas’ should take action against Yati Narsinghanand and arrest him.

He was talking to media persons after meeting Hyderabad Police Commissioner C. V. Anand to lodge a complaint against Yati Narsinghanand, who is a priest at a temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad.

Owaisi said Prime Minister, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and BJP should take action against Yati Narsinghanand and others using derogatory language against the Prophet to prove that they are not biased. He said such incidents would harm the country’s reputation at the international level.

The AIMIM chief said Yati Narsinghanand was doing this in a pre-planned manner. He believes that Yati Narsinghanand enjoyed the full support of Uttar Pradesh’s Yogi Government.

“These people are weakening the country and shredding the Constitution,” he added.

A delegation of party MLAs and MLCs led by Asaduddin Owaisi met the Hyderabad Police Commissioner and gave a written representation against Narsinghanand Saraswati.

The AIMIM leaders told the police commissioner that Narsinghanand Saraswati incited another community to burn the Prophet's effigy, which has sparked widespread outrage.

They demanded that the Hyderabad Police send a team to Uttar Pradesh, arrest Yati Narsinghanand and bring him to Hyderabad.

Owaisi said the Police Commissioner has ordered a senior officer to register a case in this regard in the cyber cell.

The AIMIM leaders expressed their concern over the provocative statements and their potential to disturb communal harmony. They urged the authorities to take strict legal action against Saraswati for his inflammatory comments and to ensure that communal sentiments are not further exacerbated.

The AIMIM chief said Yati Narsinghanand used derogatory, obnoxious and highly condemnable words against the Prophet Mohammad.

Owaisi recalled that Yati Narsinghanand was arrested earlier in a case of hate speech and one of the conditions of his bail was that he would not use derogatory words. He demanded that his bail be cancelled.

“We also requested that the videos of the blasphemous remarks of Yati Narsinghanand be removed from all social media platforms. The Police Commissioner said they would take action as per the procedure,” the MP said.

He appealed to people to remain peaceful and not to take the law into their own hands. “We have been saying that you can criticise us but you can’t use this kind of language against our Prophet. This is unacceptable,” he said.

The AIMIM leader said the police should not only register a case against Yati Narsinghanand but also arrest him. “We quoted the judgment of the Honourable Supreme Court that suo moto action should be taken against anyone making a hate speech. The Court had also said that any hesitation to act in this direction will be viewed as contempt of court and appropriate action will be taken against erring officers,” he said.