Rashtriya Ulema Council president Maulana Aamir Rashadi, who is fighting against the 'atankgarh' tag to the city, Tuesday claimed that there is no saffron or Islamic terrorism, but "government terrorism" in the country.
Rashadi also claimed that there is a conspiracy to make Muslims "untouchable" in politics.
"I have been fighting for the cause of innocent Muslim youths killed in encounters or lodged in jails. I feel there is no saffron or Islamic terror. There is 'sarkari atankwad' (government terrorism) in the country," he told PTI.
"There is a conspiracy going on to make Muslims untouchable in politics and isolate them," Rashadi, who is not active in this elections due to illness, told PTI.
He claimed that there is no difference between the Congress and the BJP, who are competing with each other to tag Muslims as "traitors".
"Both the parties are targeting the community in the name of terrorism. They appear to be sympathisers of the community but have made their policy to tag Muslims as traitors and anti-nationals," Rashadi said.
"This is done to make Muslims politically untouchable so that the leadership among them does not stand, and with the tag of terrorist they cannot not join any government," he said.
On BJP leader Sadhvi Pragya's claim that she was framed in false cases by agencies, Rashadi said, "I am saying the same thing...if she was not involved (in the 2008 Malegaon blast) it means our agencies did it and framed her. Similar is the case with Muslim youths who are framed by our agencies."
When asked about Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's allegation that the Samajwadi Party had turned Azamgarh into 'atankgarh' (hub of terrorism), he said following the Batla House encounter, "we ran a campaign and made it a symbol, forcing politicians to accept it as fake."
"The CM has now realised that the encounter was fake and Azamgarh was named 'atankgarh'," Rashadi said.
He claimed that Congress leader Salman Khurshid had said UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi had tears in her eyes when she knew about the encounter and Digvijaya Singh had accepted that the encounter was fake.
Adityanath during an election meeting here last month had alleged that the Samajwadi Party had turned Azamgarh, which was once known in the field of education and literature, into a 'atankgarh'.
The maulana said, "He will continue to fight for the cause of Muslim youths framed by agencies and continue with his demand for a probe in the Balta encounter."
When asked about the ongoing Lok Sabha polls, Rashadi said the Muslim community has the "experience and will vote wisely".
He said he has given the command of his organisation to the second line due to his ill health.
Five phases of polling are over in Uttar Pradesh and two more phases are left to elect 80 MPs from the state.
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