Asaduddin Owaisi dared Navneet Rana saying "we are ready".An inflammatory remark by AIMIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi from 11 years ago prompted a similarly startling response from BJP leader Navneet Rana. In 2013, Owaisi’s statement, “if police are removed for 15 minutes…” was widely interpreted as a threat to Hindus.
Rana, who was campaigning for Madhavi Latha, the BJP candidate for the Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat dominated by Owaisi’s brother, Asaduddin Owaisi, revisited the statement and said, “… it will take us only 15 seconds”.
Referring to the swipe by Akbaruddin Owaisi, Rana, a former independent MP from Maharashtra’s Amravati who eventually joined the BJP, said, “The younger brother said, ‘Remove police for 15 minutes so we can show what we can do’. I want to tell him, ‘It might take you 15 minutes… but it will only take us 15 seconds… ”
A 40-second video clip of Rana’s statement was also posted on her X (formerly Twitter) account.
Rana declared that Madhavi Latha will “definitely stop Hyderabad from turning into Pakistan” and claimed that anyone voting for either the Congress or the AIMIM would simply be voting for Pakistan.
“If you vote for AIMIM and Congress, it goes directly to Pakistan. The kind of ‘AIMIM prem (love)’ and ‘Rahul prem’ Pakistan is showing… Just like Congress that governed country on signals from Pak… the same Pak is today saying they ‘love Congress and AIMIM’.”
In response to the veiled threat, Asaduddin Owaisi said, “I’m telling (Prime Minister Narendra) Modiji… give her the 15 seconds. What will she do? Give her the 15 seconds… give her an hour even. We too want to see what they will do. Is there any humanity left in them? Who is scared? We are ready… if someone is making an open call (like this) then so be it. Do it. Who is stopping you?”
He added, “Aap 15 Second mein kya karenge? Kaun Darr raha hai aapse? Aap Ikhlaq, Pehlu khan, Rakbar aur Mukhtar Ansari jaisa haal karenge? Hum tayyar hain.”
Navneet Rana, a 38-year-old former actress-turned-politician, isn’t new to controversy. She catapulted into the limelight in April 2022, when, backed by her husband MLA Ravi Rana, she echoed Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray’s call to curb the use of loudspeakers in mosques during the dawn call to prayer, known as azaan. The Ranas spearheaded a campaign in Amravati, distributing loudspeakers and urging individuals to recite the Hanuman Chalisa outside mosques.
The Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat, a stronghold of the AIMIM leader since 2004, previously held by his father, Salahuddin Owaisi since 1984, has been witnessing an intense war of words. The BJP has historically struggled to secure victory here; in 2019, their candidate Bhagavanth Rao received fewer than 236,000 votes, while Owaisi got over half a million, and 64% of the vote share.
Last month, during a Ram Navami rally in Hyderabad, Madhavi Latha pretended drawing and firing an arrow near a mosque—an act widely condemned as “vulgar, obscene, and provocative” by Owaisi. Latha later issued a statement on X expressing regret, though she suggested the circulated video was “incomplete” alleging a “conspiracy against us (the BJP) … because we work well with both Hindu and Muslim brothers”.
The Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat comprises seven Assembly segments, with six currently held by the AIMIM. Voting is scheduled for May 13, alongside 16 other Lok Sabha seats in Telangana.