AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday alleged that both the Centre and the JMM-led Jharkhand government were responsible for the communal violence in Ranchi that killed two people.
Speaking to reporters on arriving at the Ranchi airport, Owaisi claimed the BJP-led government at the Centre was playing with the future of the youths by bringing in the Agnipath recruitment scheme.
"At a time when China's soldiers are on our land and Pakistan is still a threat, there are one lakh vacancies in our armed forces. And the government is trying to fill merely 45,000 vacancies through the Agnipath scheme, that too for only four years," he said.
"What will they learn in four years? There is no dearness allowance, medical allowance and insurance. The government intends to play with the future of the youths," he added.
Owaisi, the Hyderabad MP, is in Jharkhand to campaign for the by-election to the Mandar assembly seat.
On the communal violence in the state capital, he said, "The BJP government at the Centre and JMM-led government in Jharkhand are responsible for the incident, which killed two persons and left many injured. Had BJP taken action against Nupur Sharma earlier, such an incident would not have taken place. Interestingly, the JMM-led government has not yet taken any action against the police personnel who fired at unarmed people."
He said that the government should extend help to families whose children were killed in the violence.
Owaisi claimed that he was not allowed to stay at the hotels in Ranchi city by the local administration, and asked to go directly to the venue of the rally in Chanho block in Ranchi district.
"The administration told me that since there is a prohibitory order in place, I cannot stay in the city. So, I am directly going to the venue," he said.
Owaisi will be campaigning for Independent candidate Dev Kumar Dhan.
The by-election in Mandar, a tribal constituency, is scheduled to be held on June 23. The votes will be counted on June 26.
(With PTI inputs)