Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi said the incident of vandalism at his official residence in Delhi was the fourth such incident which showed the people responsible were “emboldened by our government”.
“The first attack happened in 2015 when Rajnath Singh was my neighbour. There was one home between his house and mine. These Hindutva ideology people barged into my house,” he told NDTV in an interview.
“This is the fourth incident. These people are emboldened by our government. This time they came with axe and threw stones inside my home. I have written a complaint to Parliament Street Police Station,” Mr Owaisi said.
“Two years ago, Delhi Police’s Special Cell people came and met me. I told them to stop this nonsense. You have a right to protest, go to Jantar Mantar. But coming over to my home, blackening my name plate, throwing stones, uttering all nonsense slogans,” he said.
“The larger point is that the whole bigotry issue of how hatred has been created in our country. It signifies that. It shows how emboldened these people have become. These are the real radical elements in our country,” Mr Owaisi said.
“This is the fourth incident at my home, and for the first time, police came, maybe half-an-hour later and apprehend these people,” the Hyderabad politician said.
He said the attackers come with video cameras in a demonstration of how sure they are of not facing the consequences of such incidents. He said last month’s blatantly communal slogans at a right-wing event at Jantar Mantar showed how pervasive the sentiment had become.
“Fact of the matter is, this is how all these right-wing groups are operating in our country. They don’t have fear of law. They don’t believe in rule of law. They are the most radicalised of the lot. It serves the purpose of the ruling party to create this,” Mr Owaisi said.
Asked if he blamed hate speeches by BJP leaders for such attacks, he said, “Not only that. If the BJP, the ruling party wants this to end, it can end very quickly. They are not sincere about it. They are not living up to their consitutional duty. And they are allowing these main elements.”
Five men who claimed to members of a group called the Hindu Sena were arrested on Tuesday for vandalising the official residence of Mr Owaisi at Delhi’s Ashoka Road.
The police said they received information about the incident at around 5 pm and rushed to the spot. Although nobody was attacked or injured in the incident, public property was damaged, they added.
In a video clip on social media, state president of Hindu Sena Lalit Kumar said they went to Mr Owaisi’s residence to “teach him a lesson” as he “speaks against Hindus” at his rallies.
