All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi has said that it was wrong on the part of Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath to have compared yoga with namaz. Said Owaisi to THE WEEK, “I am a Muslim. Namaz is a part of me. I don’t want it to be compared with anything. The CM should focus on things that matter rather than speak on irrelevant issues.” Adityanath had, at a recent function, said that yoga is similar to the way namaz is offered by Muslims.
Owaisi said that Adityanath should address issues like livelihood and employment in Uttar Pradesh. “The state government should not have closed slaughterhouses in the manner that they did. Illegal meat sellers should have been given time to follow the rule book. Even during demonetisation, people were given time to submit their old currency notes. The UP government should stop targeting one particular community in this manner,” he said.
On March 30, Adityanath met a delegation of meat sellers and assured them that pending licences of slaughterhouses would be renewed. With this, the statewide strike announced by the meat shop owners could get over in a few days.
