Establishment is making an example out of Akbaruddin for whole Muslim community – Abdul Raheem Qureshi

By Mohd. Ismail Khan, TwoCircles.net,

Breaking his silence for the first time, Abdul Raheem Qureshi, Assistant General Secretary of All India Muslim Personal Law Board and President of All India Majlis-e-Tammere Millat spoke for the first time to TwoCircles.net on Akbaruddin Owaisi’s alleged hate speech issue. Qureshi, who is also the president of United Muslim Action committee (UMAC) had presided those public meetings in which Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) legislator Akbaruddin Owaisi gave his alleged hate speech.


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TCN: What is your view on the handling of Akbaruddin Owaisi’s alleged hate speech case by the state Government and the Police?
ARQ: Government in this whole episode from the beginning was having vindictive attitude towards Akbaruddin Owaisi. He has been prosecuted under serious charges which is totally unacceptable in this alleged hate speech case. Section 121 and 124A (Waging war against the Nation and Sedition) is applied when a man threatens to destroy the constitution of the land or provoke others to do so, but in his speech Akbar never resorted to that extreme end. He criticized the government and for that he is being booked under that serious charge which carries life imprisonment or death penalty. This is totally illegitimate.



Maulana Abdul Raheem Qureshi

A police investigation is understandable in a dreadful criminal case, but here court has given Akbbaruddin, who is suffering from serious ill-health in the custody of police for the investigation of a ‘hate speech’. I mean what nonsense is this that speech is already there in record what police needs to investigate more by taking him into their custody.

Another other important thing I want to add is, he is also being prosecuted under section 120B (criminal conspiracy to commit an offence punishable with death). It is really silly to think Akbar has conspired with others before giving that speech. I believe it is the plot of the police to arrest many more Muslims who have taken active part in organizing those public meetings. As per law you need more than one man for a conspiracy case, now I think police will create a conspirator team to get many more in this net of hate speech cases.

TCN: How do you see the whole controversy as evolved after Akbaruddin Owaisi’s alleged hate speech?
ARQ: One has to see this speech in perspective and under what background it has been given. Hindutva leaders are giving hatred speech since independence and provoking Hindus against minorities. Speeches of Advani and his Sangh parivar during Ram Janm Bhoomi movement, and many other Hindutva leaders like Sadhvi Rithambara, Uma Bharati, Ashok Singhal, PraveenTogadia are clear examples of anti-minorities speeches in the past. What happened to them? Forget imprisonment, they were never even tried in the court of law against their hate mongering.

If in the past, those Hindutva leaders who have aroused communal passions against Muslims had been dealt with law and arrested, then Akbar wouldn’t have got any chance to give any passionate speech. When one saw that after committing a crime they have been let off and given liberty to mock Muslims anytime they wanted. Then obviously the other people will also think he also got liberty to speak in the same rabble rousing manner.

I think he made that speech as a counter to the Hindutva leaders but he was singled out and targeted just because he is a Muslim. If government wants to implement the law then it should be uniform to all irrespective of religion. In this case laws, and I must say exercise laws, are used just to target Akbaruddin Owaisi.

TCN: But his comments on Hindu gods have made general Hindus agitated, what do you have to say about it?
ARQ: See Hindutva leaders were the first who started the debate of Ram Janmbhoomi and Babri Masjid. When they claim Lord Ram, a legendary figure was born in Ayodhya, then they have to prove where and when exactly he was born. Many Hindu historians have conflicting opinions on the birth place of Lord Ram. Dr. Sankalia in his work traces the roots of Lord Ram to Afghanistan and he believes, Ayodhya was a city in Afghanistan as Aryans migrated to India from there.

He also made some comments on Hindu goddesses Lakshmi, but it was made in the context of illegal Bhagya Lakshmi Mandir, constructed adjacent to Charminar. Photo evidence makes it crystal clear that the Bhagya Lakshmi Mandir is illegal structure constructed just 3 decades ago. But Hindutva leaders are giving a call that Bhagya Laxmi Mandir is older than Charminar, and Charminar was constructed after demolishing an age old Bhagya Lakshmi Mandir there. Now it is a rational doubt that it will come up in any right thinking man’s mind that we heard of Goddesses Lakshmi but who is this Bhagya Lakshmi?

His speech was factual, no doubt about it, but I agree that his method of delivering those facts were inappropriate.

TCN: MIM is also part of UMAC and before withdrawing its support to Congress it consulted UMAC. Did UMAC and MIM apprehended this vindictive politics of Congress as alleged by you?

ARQ: We thought the other way. We expected that Congress leadership will take mature decisions and will remove the people from the Government responsible for breaking of the alliance. But Congress party has gone for severe witch hunt. Akbaruddin’s current prosecution is a manifestation of government’s malicious politics.

There is a principle in law that for one wrong there has to be one punishment. But as we are witnessing, piles of cases is getting registered against Akbar who is already in jail and facing serious charges on the same case. Section 196 of Cr.P.C. clearly states that court should not take cognizance for cases U/S 156,120,121,124 of IPC without the sanctions of the Government. But here court is accepting private complains and ordering police to register the cases in above sections, which is clearly a violation of section 196. In the past they were many instances whencourts has rejected the complaints of Muslims on the above ground. Surely Government has given clandestine directives for registration of cases.

I will give you one more example. A judge generally makes a remark while delivering a judgment, but here in this case of Akbaruddin Owaisi a writ petition in the High Court was filed to stop the registration of unwarranted cases. Honorable Justice Narshiman Reddy in the beginning itself made a negative remark on his alleged hate speech on the admission of that petition. Now when a high court judge has already made a remark on that alleged hate speech, imagine how it will affect the judgment of the junior judges in the district courts.

By using some portion of the Akbar’s speech right wing Hindu leaders are provoking Hindus and creating animosity. Now why police is sleeping and Congress Government is inactive on these groups?

TCN: But Akbaruddin’s some comments were provocative especially that ‘Hum 25 crore tum 100 crore…,’ don’t you think Muslim leaders should also maintain tolerance and patience?
ARQ: See Government and judicial system, by letting lose Hindutva hate mongers, is making Muslims and their leaders to get provoked. For how long Muslims will bear it and live a life of subjugation. If you continue to pamper Hindutva elements then emotions will definitely burst from Muslim leaders.

But I agree that some of the remarks in that speech shouldn’t have been made, that public meeting was called to criticize and expose Congress Government. Muslim leaders should keep the direction of the meetings intact and refrain from targeting any particular community. But onus is also on the government side to control the hate mongers from majority community first.

But in this case at the end of the day, Akbaruddin Owaisi is being singled out just because he is a Muslim politician, an easy target, and because his party withdrew support from the Government. Establishment is trying to make an example out of Akbar for the whole Muslim community in India.

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