All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday made a controversial comment against Bollywood actor Salman Khan, saying he ran over people sleeping on the footpath in an inebriated condition and made his driver the scapegoat.
He was speaking at a public meeting organised in Mumbai in the wake of Bandra by-polls, where AIMIM has also fielded a candidate.
Tearing into the actor, Owaisi, without naming the actor said: "He was driving under the influence of alcohol and ploughed into the sleeping people on the footpath. These were poor people. He then said that it was not him who was driving. That it was somebody else. How many more poor people must die?"
Referriing to beef ban in Maharashtra, Owaisi claimed livelihood of 1.5 lakh dalits and 2 lakh Muslims would be affected. Instead of banning beef, he said the government should prohibit liquor as alcohol is the major reason for domestic violence in villages.
"Enforce prohibition. This will help the cause of `Beti Bachao Beti Padhao' scheme launched by the Modi government. There are many villages I have seen in this state where panchayats have not allowed liquor to be sold," he said.
He later criticised the Centre for organising the SC conference on Good Friday. "India is a secular country. There may be only three or four per cent of Christians in the country but the festival is important for them," he said.
