Excerpts from TCN interview with Asaduddin Owaisi
By M Reyaz, TwoCircles.net,
Hyderabad: Ever since Asaduddin Owaisi addressed a well-attended public meeting in Kishanganj on August 16, organised by Akhtarul Iman, there has been concerns in several quarters on whether MIM’s entry into Bihar will divide the ‘secular’ votes and further help in polarisation of Hindu votes.
MIM Press Conference announcing decision to participate in Bihar Assembly Election.
Talking to TwoCircles.net in an exclusive interview on Friday, Owaisi made his intentions clear while directly attacking the so called secular leaders. “Where is the question of it (counter polarisation)? There is already polarisation of so called upper caste majority community.”
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) finally cleared the air on Saturday and announced that it will indeed contest the Assembly elections in Bihar. Speaking to media-persons, party president Asaduddin Owaisi said that the party will confine itself to the Seemanchal region of Bihar that has sizeable Muslim population and is one of the most backward regions in the state.
This will be MIM’s another step towards expanding his party base beyond the Deccan. Earlier this year, MIM contested elections in Maharashtra and even won two Assembly seats, besides local municipal elections in parts of Karnataka and Maharashtra.
It is not clear though on how many seats MIM will contest elections. Seemanchal region in Bihar comprise of four districts, accounts for 24 assembly seats in the 243-member Bihar Assembly.
Owaisi also announced the appointment of three times MLA Akhtarul Iman as the President of Bihar unit of the MIM.
Asaduddin Owaisi’s August 16 public rally in Kishanganj
Talking specifically about Bihar, he told TCN that although he has been criticised so much, similar reactions was not seen when the Left parties decided to contest separately in Bihar or Samjwadi Party announced to go it alone.
He took on both Nitsh Kumar and Lalu-Rabri regime as well, reminding that the former is now talking of safeguarding secularism but was the railway Minister in NDA when the 2002 Gujarat riots happened and also ran the government in alliance with the BJP in Bihar. “Nitish Kumar is fine with BJP, Nitish Kumar is not fine with Modi,” he said, adding, “Asaduddin Owaisi is saying that there is no difference between Modi and the BJP. They are same.”
He also questioned the Nitish Government’s welfare schemes particularly meant for the minorities. There are about 18% Muslims and including Buddhist and other minorities about 19-20%, and yet the budget allocation is “only near 299 crore,” he said, asking, “Did I stop them from increasing minority budget?”
While acknowledging that overall also Bihar is not as developed but he questioned the socio-education indicators of Muslims of the state in particular, deploring at the lower employment rates of Muslims in government jobs.
Owaisi also raised the issue of Forbesganj police firing, while also raising questions on the 15 year tenure of Lalu-Rabri.
“I am honoured, by blaming me for each and everything… but these are the questions that these people must answer,” he told TCN, further asking, “How many Muslim MLAs are there (from Bihar)?
Owaisi further said, “I am sick and tired of these that we should help the secular parties; at what cost? It cannot be one way traffic… This is a burden which these political parties have imposed on us, on our weak shoulders…Let this burden, this responsibility be shared by everyone,” adding, “Now this is for this majority upper caste community to showcase how secular they are.”
Reacting to those attacking him for dividing ‘secular votes,’ he told TCN that his party did not contest the general elections which BJP swept, neither did they contest in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, Haryana, etc. which the so called secular parties lost. He added, “What right have these people got to blame me?”
On people questioning his credentials, he said, “When I was in UPA for eight years, I was the holy cow. Because now we are not supporting them, and opposing them for rightful reasons, for political empowerment of the Muslims, for justice for Muslims, that is why they don’t like it.”
Meanwhile, there is fear that the MIM entry may turn spoiler for the ambitious grand alliance against BJP, comprising of RJD-JDU-Congress. Alliance leaders are saying in public though that MIM entry would have no significant effect.