By Mohd Ismail Khan, TwoCircles.net,
Hyderabad: It’s a rough summer afternoon in Hyderabad, but the newly renovated Majlis-e-Itehadul Muslimeen headquarter ‘Daraul Salam (abode of peace)’ is packed with ticket aspirants, many of them interestingly are Dalits. MIM’s screams of expansion and alliance with Dalits has resonated well with its cadre to expand their base.
In an unprecedented move party released first list of candidates a month ahead of elections whereas in past it used to announce candidates on the last day of filing nominations. Party chief Asaduddin Owaisi is in reformative mode, and is ready to don many hats. From a messiah of oppressed sections to a vocal Muslim leader, from a socialist rant to a feminist brand, this London educated barrister is bringing it all out in these elections.
Asaduddin Owaisi
Interacting with journalists in a conference hall, Mr. Owaisi tells us that Dalit Muslim alliance is the need of the hour, “After formation of Telangana, Dalit-Muslim alliance becomes more necessary.” MIM, he claims, is going to filed weaker section candidates in assembly segments in its second list, particularly mentioning name of Zaheerabad, a Muslim dominated SC reserved assembly constituency at Karnataka border currently represented by former minister Geeta Reddy.
Expansion is their agenda, but the party’s first priority Mr. Owaisi said will be to retain their sitting assembly and parliamentary seats.
With the starting of its own android application, keeping in tune with changing times, Majlis has also announced formation of party’s women’s wing called Shoba-e-Khawateen. Majlis councilor Yasmeen Sultana an advocate by profession will be its convener.
“I should have done it much earlier”, Mr. Asaduddin said. He believes no party could anymore dare to neglect the fair sex which forms 49% of population. “There is a need for emancipation of women and politics is also one of the ways.”
Though party became tech savvy but still feels allergic with electoral norm ‘manifesto’, “Manifestos are created to cheat people and to break promises. For us peoples aspirations are our manifesto. We don’t believe in formality of releasing manifesto we will show our manifesto by our actions and ground work.” MIM chief said.
In a polarized electoral battle making Narendra Modi a poll issue MIM claim is to protect the country. Mr. Asaduddin said, “India is a diverse nation, so secularism is must to keep nation united. Narendra Modi an RSS ideologue will promote only hatred which will cause destruction of this nation.”
To weight his argument he gave a recent example from Mr. Modi’s speech in Assam, “He (Modi) said rhinos in Assam are killed to make way for Bangaladeshi Muslim settlers. This is the kind of poison he has towards minorities that he even linked rhino poaching incidents to Muslims.”
Mr. Owaisi was quick to also mention Maulana Abdul Qavi’s arrest by Gujarat police in a decade old terror conspiracy case just before elections, “People are witnessing all this incidents they will decide who is good for the nation.”
A Telugu newspaper journalist in between commented on his amazement in seeing Majlis press note in Telugu which suits quite well with party embracing local language to reach out masses in Telangana and SeemaAndhra.
This brought the critical question, is Majlis dominated by Deccani Urdu speaking Muslims discriminated against Telugu speaking Muslims of the region? To which Mr. Owaisi replied, “How can we discriminate each other internally when we know as a community we are target of different kinds of discrimination. There is no discrimination on the basis of language; we give equal platform for our Telugu Muslim brothers in districts.”
He continued his assertion that language is no barrier in fight against injustice, “I go to Assam speak for Muslims there, I went to Kashmir and raised their issue in Parliament. How can I not speak for my Telugu speaking brothers?”
Does Majlis still enjoy monopoly over Muslim politics in the region or there is a growing opposition within the community like in the form of its breakaway faction MBT? Mr. Asaduddin Owaisi counters in cold tune. “You wait till May 16th everything will be crystal clear whether we are facing opposition or getting support from the community,” he says.
To sum up the position of opposition against them, “By the way MBT didn’t fight a single Municipal election out of Hyderabad,” MIM chief said with a magnum smirk.