Hyderabad: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president and member of Lok Sabha from Hyderabad, Asaduddin Owaisi has strongly rejected allegations that his party is dividing the country’s secular votes and helping Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
In an exclusive interview with Gulf News on Sunday at his party’s headquarters in Darussalam, Hyderabad, he said it was the utter failure of the secular parties in securing the interest of Muslims and Dalits, which had forced AIMIM to step in and give the weaker sections a voice.
“India is a democratic country and every political party has a constitutional right to strive and expand itself,” he said when asked about his efforts to take the AIMIM beyond Hyderabad and Telangana.
“India is a heterogeneous country with 300 languages and 35-40 religions. In such a country, how can you have a two-party system? [On] the one hand, you enter into a peace deal with Naga rebels who were waging a war against the country and, on the other [hand], you find fault with me for peacefully and democratically raising the voice for the rights of minorities and Dalits.”
Rejecting the charge that AIMIM is a communal party spreading religious hatred, he said: “Our fight is not against any other community but only for the empowerment of Muslims and other weaker sections. When we ask tough questions about the failure of other parties, they say we are communal. I would not have raised these issues if other parties had not failed in ensuring justice and development, education and job[a] to Muslims. When secular parties are not raising the real issues of Muslims, where should we go. When we are trying to do this work, you are opposing that too by calling us communal. What is that you want? Should Muslims suffer in silence and do nothing?”
“The whole world is watching who is spreading religious hatred and who is communal. Such baseless allegations reflect the panic of our opponents who don’t have answers to our questions. We are the most secular party working for the empowerment of Dalits along with [the betterment of] Muslims”.
The 46-year-old Owaisi, a London-trained Barrister, is the cynosure of all eyes at national levels ever since he declared his intention to take his party in to the messy North Indian political plane, especially in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
His recent visit to Seemanchal region of Bihar and a mammoth rally at Kishangunj have stirred the hornet’s nest and left many politics anxious.
However, the one question both the warring sides of Bihar’s electoral battle were keen to know remained unanswered: Will Owaisi fight the Bihar assembly elections? “Yes, many people from Bihar want us to fight the elections. We will take a decision as soon as possible. I can’t say anything now,” he said evading questions on the subject. However, he declared that the AIMIM will contest the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and other states.
In Bihar, the secular alliance of ruling Janata Dal (U), Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress was worried that AIMIM’s entry will divide the Muslim votes, while the BJP-led alliance was happy over the same prospects.
Owaisi said: “Who is responsible for the dwindling representation of Muslims in Parliament and the state assemblies. In [the] 2014 elections only 23 Muslims were elected to Parliament. In Uttar Pradesh, BJP won 71 and [the] Yadav family won five seats. Not one of them was Muslim. BJP does not have a single Muslim MP [member of parliament]. Bihar has 17 per cent [of] Muslims votes and only three Muslim MPs were elected. In Bihar assembly, Muslim representation is only 8 per cent, with 19 MLAs [Members of Legislative Assembly]. Was [AI]MIM in the fray in these elections? It is the secular parties who are responsible as they have completely lost their credibility”.
He said that the secular parties were trying to blame him for their failures and shortcomings. “Making Muslim votes [the] subject of debate is wrong. Why don’t they ask where the secular Hindu vote is going? Where the upper caste votes and OBC [other backward classes] votes are going? Why don’t they do something to secure these votes instead of crying over Muslim votes and blaming me? Secular parties should introspect.”
Responding to those objecting to the expansion of AIMIM to other states, Owaisi asked: “Is India their Jagir or a Rajwada [princely state]. If Modi can go to Dubai and talk to Indians there, I am an Indian and I can go anywhere in the country and talk to my countrymen”.
“In fact, we are strengthening the democracy. This will weaken the anti democratic forces”, he said.
Owaisi said that it was a wrong perception that secular parties would lose or BJP will win because of Muslims. Giving another example, he said: “In Maharashtra Assembly elections [AI]MIM contested only 24 per cent seats and polled 524,000 votes. What happened in the remaining assembly constituencies, why [have] the secular parties lost there? Where the remaining 55 lakh [5.5 million] Muslim votes went?’
Owaisi said that secular parties do not have any strategy and will power to fight against the communal forces. “Why it should be the responsibility of MIM alone to keep the secularism alive? What are these other secular parties doing for it? How long they will keep misleading and cheating Muslims like this?”
When asked what could be the solution for the dwindling Muslim representation, Owaisi said: “[AI]MIM was working hard to provide an alternate platform to Muslims and Dalits across the country. I don’t want to make any boastful claim, but we are working in that direction”.
Reacting strongly to the charge made by senior Muslim minister of Uttar Pradesh Azam Khan that the [AI]MIM was working like agent of the BJP, Asad Owaisi quipped: “He is a big man. But my question is simple. Why his party did not win Lok Sabha seat in his own Rampur district? Did I contest the election there? He is blaming Muslims and questioning us where as we should be the one asking questions and he should answer them”.
In a stinging criticism of Samajwadi Party government of Uttar Pradesh (UP), he said that after 2002 violence in Gujrat, UP was only the second state where more than 50,000 Muslims were geographically uprooted and displaced since the partition of the country. Muslims who had been living there for years lost every thing including their culture and way of life. Was AIMMIM responsible for this, he asked. Uttar Pradesh has a 20 per cent Muslim population. Samajwadi Party promised 16 per cent reservations to Muslims. “Did I stop them from fulfilling it? They promised to release the innocent Muslim youth languishing in jail. Why they did not do it?” he asked.
Owaisi, once an ally of Congress-led UP, did not mince words in criticising the Congress government in Karnataka for not allowing him and other AIMIM leaders to campaign during the recent Benglauru Municipal Corporation elections. Owaisi warned: “today they are suppressing our rights. Tomorrow, they will also face the same situation. Today, they could do it because they control the state administration, but I challenge them to do it at the time of the Assembly elections. Can they do it”? he said. “Has the Congress given up its faith in freedom of expression”, he quipped.
Unlike in Maharashtra, where the AIMIM won two assembly seats and emerged as the main opposition party in Aurangabad Municipal Corporation, MIM could not make a dent in Bengaluru. “The biggest reason was that the state government did not allow us to reach out to the people by banning our meetings and disallowing even Padyatras”, he said.
“By such acts and baseless allegations no body can suppress my voice. I will continue to raise my voice”, he said.
Asked how he looked at Narendra Modi government’s track record, Owaisi said: “it is full of failure and broken promises. This will be remembered for hate speeches and provocative slogans like Love Jihad, Ghar Wapsi, Beef Ban and depriving Muslims of Maharashtra of reservations even after the Mumbai High Court supported it”.
“Even the Prime Minister said in his first speech in Parliament House that his rule marked the end of 1,200 years of slavery. I would like to ask him whether India was a slave country when Kh[w]aja Moinuddin Chishti came to India, when Tipu Sultan sacrificed his life fighting against the British when Muslim ulema waged a fight in 1857. Now they are talking of change the name of Aurangabad city. What kind of talk is this?”
He said it was a matter of grave concern that history was being distorted and textbooks were being saffronised ever since this government came.
“In Dubai, the Prime Minister said there could not be good Taliban or bad Taliban. Then I ask whether [Swami] Aseemanand and Purohit or good or bad. Why the government did not challenge the bail of the accused of Mecca Masjid and Samjhauta express blast?” he asked
Talking of the problems of Muslim community, Owaisi said: “There is an urgent need to change the agenda of Muslims. Muslims do not want Iftar parties or a Chadar for Ajmer Dargah from the government. They want education and jobs. Political and economic empowerment is the main issue. It is for the community itself to change this agenda”.
Reeling out the statistics, he said the rate of urban unemployment among Muslims was 13 per cent. “Prime Minister is talking of 10 per cent growth. To achieve that, the rate of unemployment should come down to 6 per cent. Development cannot be in isolation. It can be achieved together. Our destiny is together”, he said.
“Fourteen per cent of Muslim children did not go or were not going to schools and only 3 per cent Muslim children were reaching the level of graduation. 35 per cent of Muslim families were below poverty line and only 1.6 per cent Muslims were technically qualified. “Who is responsible for this situation”? he asked, “I am challenging the Prime Minister to reply to this. I am asking a pointed question? Give us education and jobs”.
“But the community has to work to change this situation. ”, Owaisi said. Giving an example of how a strong political voice can help in changing the status of Muslims, Owaisi said that in Telangana, with 14 per cent Muslims, Rs1,300 core [Dh13 billion] was allocated for the minority welfare.
“In Bihar, with 17 per cent Muslim population it was a mere 299 crore [2.99 billion]”, he said.
The AIMIM has seven members in Telangana Assembly and two in Telangana legislative council, and it has been ruling the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation and enjoys significant political weight and influence in the state.
