By IANS
Hyderabad : Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), a powerful Muslim political party in Andhra Pradesh, Sunday celebrated its golden jubilee.
Party president Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi addressed a rally at Darussalam, the party headquarters, to mark the day.
Owaisi recalled the party’s struggle in 1950s when Muslims were passing through difficult times after “police action” against the erstwhile state of Hyderabad.
He was referring to the operations in 1948 against the forces of Nizam, the ruler of the then Hyderabad state, to merge it with the Indian union.
It was March 2, 1958 that MIM was revived with a new constitution. The party earlier fought to keep Hyderabad as an independent state.
Salar-e-Millat, as Owaisi is popularly known among his followers, recalled that his father Moulana Abdul Wahid Owaisi accepted the mantle of leadership when the Muslims were facing a crisis after “losing everything during the police action and nobody dared to speak for the rights of Muslims”.
“MIM has set an example for the entire India. It not only achieved political power to force the successive governments to address the community’s concerns but also built a number of educational institutions and hospitals,” he said.
“MIM has one-point programme: the Muslims should unite on a single political platform. People used to ridicule us when we called it All-India MIM. People used to ask where is the office. Today, I can tell them the biggest office for any party in the country is our party headquarters,” he said amid thunderous applause by hundreds of party workers.
“We have done what others could not do. The number of Muslims is less in Andhra Pradesh when compared to Uttar Pradesh and other states, but our achievements show that numbers alone do not work and it is the determination which is required,” said Owaisi, who represented Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency for almost two decades.
MIM, which has mass support in the Muslim-majority old city of Hyderabad, has one MP and five members of state assembly from the capital. Owaisi’s eldest son Asaduddin Owaisi is now representing Hyderabad parliamentary constituency while another son, Akabruddin Owaisi, is a legislator from Chandrayangutta assembly constituency.
The Muslims constitute 40 percent of Hyderabad’s six million population and are an overwhelming majority in the old city.