Mrs. Sonia Gandhi
President, Indian National Congress,
10, Janpath,
New Delhi 110011 India
January 24, 2013
Subject: Vendetta politics and political witch-hunt by Congress led AP government
I am writing to you on behalf of the Indian American Muslim Council, an advocacy organization dedicated to safeguarding India's pluralist and tolerant ethos.
The Indian American community is gravely concerned in regards to the recent developments in Andhra Pradesh with respect to the arrest of Mr. Asaduddin Owaisi, Lok Sabha MP as well as the sedition charges levied against his younger brother Mr. Akbaruddin Owaisi.
On this important and sensitive issue, we would like to draw your attention to the following:
1. The speech given by Mr. Akbaruddin Owaisi on December 24, 2012 was unequivocally condemned by IAMC and other prominent Muslim organizations both in India and abroad.
2. We however feel the charges slapped against Mr. Akbaruddin Owaisi, of sedition and waging war against the state, go far beyond the accepted allegations. The lack of an evenhanded approach in dealing with hate speech of all kinds over many years has reinforced the perception that the law is being applied selectively against one community. For instance, Mr. Praveen Togadia of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), who recently made a speech inciting violence against Muslims at the Charminar monument, has not been charged with any crime. Swami Kamalananda Bharati made a similar hateful and inflammatory speech at Indira Park on January 9, 2013. The Swami is already out on bail, while Mr. Owaisi still remains in jail facing charges that could even lead to a death sentence. Clearly, the principle of equality of all citizens before the law is being violated.
3. It should be noted that charges of sedition and waging war against the state are routinely levied against Muslim youth for trivial offences in Andhra Pradesh and several other states being ruled by Congress. The fact that charges are now being applied even against Muslim MLAs and MPs in a discriminatory fashion is not lost on the community.
4. The arrest of Mr. Asaduddin Owaisi, in a case that dates back to 2005, smacks of political vendetta. While IAMC was categorical in rejecting his younger brother's denigration of another religion, we believe, along with the vast majority of Muslims in India, that the MIM leadership is being targeted for withdrawing support to the Congress-led state government in Andhra Pradesh.
5. The state government allowed the illegal construction of the Bhagyalaxmi temple at Charminar, despite being fully cognizant of the illegal nature of the expansion with the Supreme Court ban in place, on such construction.
6. The case in which Mr. Asaduddin Owaisi was arrested also has an anti-Muslim undertone, as it was a case in which Mr. Owaisi opposed the demolition of a mosque by local government officials.
In this scenario, the arrest of Mr. Asaduddin Owaisi and the extreme charges levied against Mr. Akbaruddin Owaisi amounts to an escalation in targeting of Muslims in Andhra Pradesh even to the level of elected leadership. Moreover, the state government formed by the Congress and headed by Mr. Kiran Kumar Reddy appears to have been co-opted by elements harboring communal interests.
We urge you, as the leader of the Congress party, to intervene and prevent the ideals of the Congress party from falling prey to the machinations of local sectarian politics. As the party that is leading the coalition government at the Centre, people expect the Congress led administrations to uphold the rule of law, the equality of all citizens and the sanctity of all religions; anything less than this would make the Congress party indistinguishable from the parties that espouse divisive and hateful ideologies.
We urge you to take the steps necessary to diffuse the poisonous atmosphere around these events, including the potential replacement of the current AP Chief Minister. Your leadership can ensure a just resolution that would convince law-abiding citizens that the law of the land applies equally to all Indians and is part of a solution that brings us all together.
Indian-American Muslim Council (formerly Indian Muslim Council-USA) is the largest advocacy organization of Indian Muslims in the United States with 13 chapters across the nation.
Sincerely,
Ahsan Khan
(President, IAMC)
