Just in: Uproar in Maharashtra assembly after BJP's Ram Kadam asks AIMIM leader Waris Pathan to say 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' in the backdrop of the party chief Asaduddin Owaisi's challenge to the RSS that he will never say Bharat Mata Ki Jai. Pathan has now been suspended from the Maharashtra Assembly for this session after he did refused to say 'Bharat Mata ki Jai'.

This afternoon, Waris Pathan reacted to Javed Akhtar's parliament speech denouncing Owaisi (without actually naming him). Pathan said, "By commenting on the cap worn by Owaisi sahab, Javed Akhtar sahab has insulted Muslims of not only India but the world. Javed sahab says 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' then let him, we won't. We will say Hindustan Zindabad and Jai Hind."

Akhtar told Parliament yesterday, "There is one man who thinks that he is a national leader, but in reality he is only a leader in an area in the city of Hyderabad, in one of India's states."

The leader, Akhtar said, claims he will not chant Bharat Mata ki Jai because it is not demanded in the Constitution. "The Constitution also does not ask him to wear a sherwani and a cap... I condemn his statements on all fronts," said Akhtar, a nominated member of Rajya Sabha who will be retiring later this year.


Pic: AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi.