Wasn't threatening, speech edited to misrepresent my words: Owaisi

New Delhi: Asaduddin Owaisi explained on Friday that what he said during campaigning in Uttar Pradesh was not meant to be a threat to police. He said he was talking about the atrocities Muslims face under the UP police while the key parts of his speech were cut to misrepresent his words, NDTV reported.

In a video clip that went viral, he addressed to police, saying that Yogi Adityanath will not remain UP CM forever as well as Narendra Modi, India's PM. Muslims will never forget the injustice done to them, and things will change. Allah will destroy police for harassing Muslims while Adityanad will return to his mutt and Modi to the mountains, and who will save them (police), he asked.

His remarks have induced widespread criticism accusing him of making hate speech which some said was as disgraceful as Hindutva leaders' speech at Haridwar. Shiv Sena's Priyanka Chaturvedi had described Owaisi's words as shameful while BJP spokesperson Sudhansu Trivedi compared him to Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah, saying, AIMIM leaders used to make such remarks.

Trivedi told PTI that the soul of Jinnah still reside in Owaisi since his words were similar to what Jinnah said in 1946 about direct action, a year before the India-Pakistan partition.

Meanwhile, regarding the hate speech in a Hindu religious conclave in Haridwar, an FIR has been registered naming one person, but no arrests have been registered so far. Video footage of the 'religious parliament' had surfaced in social media in which attendees called for Hindus to arm themselves and genocide against Muslims.

Uttarakhand Director General of Police said that UAPA could not be invoked since the event led to no violence, The Hindu reported. The attendees of the event told NDTV that they didn't regret making such remarks.