Asaddudin Owaisi : WHAT DOES THIS MAN WANT?

Source ; http://www.hardnewsmedia.com/2015/01/6475

The leader of the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, Asaduddin Owaisi, is exploring the unthinkable idea of a pan-Indian party of Muslims to defend secularism. Will it work?

Sadiq Naqvi Delhi 

“Stop worrying about Indian Muslims. Sixty years back we took a decision to stay on that side of the border and we stand by it. India is our country,” Asaduddin Owaisi, fiery orator and President of the Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), told a Pakistani panel during a debate on Geo TV. “We have a Constitution whose preamble states that India is a secular country,” he continued with barbs at the Pakistanis in perfect Dakhani Urdu. “The word jihad has a different connotation for me,” he responded after a Pakistani panelist from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa said that jihad is one of the pillars of Islam. “The biggest jihad is the fight against the self. We should first work on our own flaws,” he told him as the Pakistani audience continued to applaud. 

The 45-year-old Owaisi, mostly clad in a sherwani and skull cap, and sporting a beard without a moustache—the stereotypical appearance of a Deobandi Muslim cleric—is a third-time MP from Hyderabad, the erstwhile capital of the Nizam. Yet he refuses to identify himself with any one school of thought of Islam, true to his organisation, MIM, whose name roughly translates into ‘council of Muslim unity’. Politics, he says, is what he follows and practises and dares the clergy to contest elections if they want to enter politics. He is an unusual Muslim politician who cannot be boxed into any one description. 

His politics, which revolve around Muslims and how they continue to be treated as second-class citizens, variously invites admiration, awe and even hatred. He has passionately taken up the issues of innocent Muslims being charged with terrorism, forced conversion and the pathetic economic status of the community. On the other hand, he has been against some progressive ideas such as reservation for women in Parliament which would have empowered Muslim women too. 

From October to November last year, Sudarshan News, a news channel known for giving a Hindutva spin to events, ran a daily telecast. The hour-long show, “Owaisis ka nanga naach”, had hardline RSS supporters, including Subramanian Swamy, discussing (in language that could easily qualify as hate speech) how to contain Asaduddin and brother Akbaruddin. The telecast later led to vandalism at his Delhi residence which happens to be in a high-security zone sandwiched between Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s residence and the Election Commission of India. Even some liberal Muslims view him with scepticism. “Another orator making an impact. And I won’t be surprised if he actually manages to challenge Mulayam in UP and Lalu in Bihar. But is it good for India in the long run? Just as Modi pushed out secular Hindus towards irrelevance, Owaisi too will only strengthen the hardliners among Muslims,” wrote a Muslim journalist in the social media. 

However, there are many others who believe that he is rational and fearless and takes up all the right issues. “A battered party like the Congress needs at least 10 such people to be able to make up a solid opposition in Parliament,” a former strategist for the Congress commented. 

Many liken his outfit, which for a very long time was confined to Hyderabad, to the Shiv Sena. And, like Bal Thackeray, the late Sena chief, he and his brother are gifted public speakers. Many say they have a mafia-like grip on the old city in Hyderabad. They often use rhetoric and ridicule to woo their largely Muslim support base. Last January, Akbaruddin, who has a knack for speaking nonsense to grab eyeballs, was booked and jailed on charges of sedition, more than a month after he delivered a two-hour-long hate speech targetting the Hindu community. On an earlier occasion, he had threatened to kill Taslima Nasreen, the controversial Bangladeshi writer who was once heckled by MIM cadre during a visit to Hyderabad. Asaduddin, however, is suave, assertive and incorporates facts and figures in his addresses in Parliament and outside. He was awarded the Sansad Ratna for the overall best performance in the 14th Lok Sabha. 

He disputes the comparison with the Shiv Sena. “We don’t go around threatening migrants. And we were not involved in a riot like they were,” he says. Yet, he refuses to criticise his brother. “Let the courts decide,” he says. “He is more shrewd than me when it comes to politics.” He narrates how the younger sibling had to quit studying for a medical degree midway. “My father, Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi, was extremely unwell and I was in London. That is when Akbaruddin came in and entered politics and got so involved that he never completed the degree. He is senior to me,” he says.