India: Stay within Limits of the Mask - Says the misogynist MIM Poster promoting the Veil for Women

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India - Maharashtra: MIM's foray in Maharashtra hinterland

NCP tops Navi Mumbai, Muslim party gains big in Aurangabad
Ambarish Mishra,TNN | Apr 24, 2015, 03.10 AM IST

MUMBAI: BJP-Shiv Sena's poor tally in the Navi Mumbai municipal polls and MIM's impressive electoral gains in the Aurangabad civic body as a result of polarization of votes reflect the state's fast-mutating political scenario.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/NCP-tops-Navi-Mumbai-Muslim-party-gains-big-in-Aurangabad/articleshow/47032666.cms

India: Muslim Right MIM to lead Muslim and Dalit social coalition in the Maharashtra ?

Daily News and Analysis

AIMIM looks to forge Muslim-Dalit social coalition
Monday, 17 November 2014 - 7:35am IST | Agency: DNA

Dhaval Kulkarni

In an attempt to forge a Muslim and Dalit social coalition in the Maharashtra, where the communities together account for over 24% of the population, the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has taken up the cause of the recent Dalit killings at Javkheda Khalsa. AIMIM chief and Lok Sabha MP from Hyderabad, Asaduddin Owaisi, visited the village in Ahmednagar on Saturday.

Alleging that the police had failed to track down the killers, the party demanded transfer of the case to the CBI and fast-tracking of the trial. In October, Sanjay Jadhav, wife Jayashree and son Sunil were murdered and their body parts were recovered from a well.

Indicating a massive anger against "secular" parties like the Congress, two AIMIM nominees were elected to the Maharashtra assembly from Muslim-dominated seats. However, out of its 24 candidates, some were Dalits, and the party supported former minister Gangadhar Gade from Aurangabad West. Gade is a product of the 'Namantar' movement, which had called for the Marathawada university to be named after Dalit icon Dr Ambedkar.

"It is sad that even three weeks later (the police) do not have anything on hand," said AIMIM legislator from Aurangabad Central Imtiaz Jaleel. "The (culprits) are not organised criminals. This was a small village where the murders took place and the bodies were cut into pieces," he said, adding that the relatives of the victims were fearing retribution.

Stressing the need for a CBI probe, Jaleel lamented that the special task force (STF) announced by the Governor was yet to be formed.

"The Ambedkarite movement is almost rudderless. There is a lack of unity... leaders have failed to rise to the occasion," said Gade, who was part of the Dalit Panthers, adding that in contrast, the AIMIM was a strong organisation with resources. "Dalits feel close to him (Owaisi) and think that he has a broad line beyond caste and religion."

This is not the first time that a Dalit-Muslim coalition has been attempted. In the 1980s, Dalit leader Jogendra Kawade had joined alleged smuggler Haji Mastan Mirza to form the Dalit Muslim Suraksha Mahasangh. Recently, the Bahujan Mukti Party supported by Waman Meshram's All India Backward (SC, ST, OBC) and Minority Communities Employees' Federation (BAMCEF) faction, had tried to field German Bakery blasts accused Mirza Himayat Beg from Aurangabad in the Lok Sabha polls.

"The idea behind (the Dalit and Muslim coalition) is to ensure that the voice of the Dalits is heard in assembly and Parliament," said Jaleel, indicating that the party was intent on giving more tickets to Dalits and other minorities in the coming local body polls.

Once a potent force in Maharashtra's politics, which also birthed an avant garde genre of literature, mainstream Dalit political activism lies in tatters due to fragmentation in the ranks of the Republican Party of India (RPI) factions, including those led by Rajya Sabha MP Ramdas Athavale and Dr Ambedkar's grandson Prakash Ambedkar. These factions, most of which are aligned with the Congress or the NCP, with Athavale joining hands with the BJP and Prakash ploughing a lone furrow, are dominated by Buddhist Dalits.

Uphold Democratic Values and Condemn Violence against Activists

Uphold Democratic Values and Condemn Violence against Activists

Uphold Democratic Values and Condemn Violence against Activists

Violence, hooliganism, and disruption of the democratic process is common to all fundamentalist elements in the political sphere. Last evening some goons (a.k.a party workers) from the muslim fundamentalist Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen party attacked noted activist S.Q. Masood, who was working as an observer for the Aam Aadmi Party at Golconda in the Karwan Assembly Constituency, Hyderabad.

Similarly, three days ago well known activist Shabnam Hashmi and Pratap Singh Negi were attacked by BJP workers in Rae Bareli, UP while distributing leaflets exposing the Gujarat development claims. The workers threatened to rape Ms. Hashmi if she did not relent. In both cases the police refused to register FIRs. These brazen acts of violence by both Hindu and Muslim fundamentalist parties, within the protective umbrella of the police, are horrifying and must be strongly condemned. These parties are breeding an inhumane culture of intolerance in the name of religion and corrupting the law and order system.These incidents provide a glimpse of the hatred, disorder and deteriorated law & order situation that will be the order of the day when these parties come into power.

In Solidarity

Achin Vanaik, Academic, Delhi

Ali Asghar, Hyderabad

Amalendu Upadhyaya, Editor, Hastakshep.com

Amar Kanwar, Film maker, Delhi

Amit Sengupta, Senior Journalist

Amitabh Pandey, Delhi

Anu Chenoy, Academic, JNU, Delhi

Apoorvanand, Academic, Delhi University

Asad Ashraf, Jamia Student’s Solidarity Forum

Asad Zaidi, Writer & Publisher

Ashish Awasthi, Activist, Lucknow

Battini Rao,People's Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS)

Bhawna Sharma, Activist, Delhi

Biju Mohan, Film maker, Kerala

Dinesh Mohan, IIT Delhi

Dr Neshat Quaiser, Academic, Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi

Father Cedric Prakash, Prashant, Ahmedabad

Harsh Kapoor (sacw.net)

Harshita Yalamarty, Student, JNU

Hasan Abdullah

Hozefa Ujjaini, Ahmadabad

Indu Prakash Singh, Rights Defender, NFHR & FACT

Irfan Engineer, Mumbai

Joe Athialy, Activist, Delhi

John Dayal, Member, National Integration Council

Kamal Mitra Chenoy, Academic, JNU, Delhi

Kamayani Bali Mahabal, feminist and Human Rights Activist

Kiran Shaheen, People's Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS)

Kumar Prashant

Kumar Sundaram, Anti Nuclear Activist, Delhi

Lesley Esteves, Activist, New Delhi

Madhuresh Kumar, NAPM

Manisha Sethi, Academic, Delhi

Mansi Sharma, Activist, Delhi

Mohammad Imran

Mukta Srivastava

Nalini Taneja, Teacher, Delhi

Navaid Hamid, Member, National Integration Council

Niloufer Bhagwat, Mumbai

Nirmalangshu Mukherji, Activist & Writer

Nishat Quaisar, Jamia Millia Islamia

NOMOre Campaign

Ovais Sultan Khan, Social Work Professional, Delhi

Persis Jinwala, Activist Ahmadabad

Prasad Chacko, Activist, Ahmedabad

Puneet Sharma, Director, Mumbai

Purwa Bhardwaj, Independent Writer/Researcher, Delhi

Rakesh Sharma, Film maker, Mumbai

Ram Puniyani, All India Secular Forum, Mumbai

Rituparna Borah, Delhi

Rohini Hensman, Writer

Runu Chakraborty Saheli Women's Resource Centre, New Delhi

Sanjay Kapoor, Editor, Hardnews

Seema Mustafa, Editor, The Citizen

Sehba farooqui, AIDWA

Sheeba Aslam Fehmi, Activist, Writer, Delhi

Shesh Narain Singh, Journalist

Shree Prakash, UDFI, Indore

Subhash Gatade, New Socialist Initiative

Sukla Sen, Mumbai

Sushovan Dhar

Tanweer Fazal, Academic, JNU, Delhi

Vani Subramanian, filmmaker

Vidya Bhushan Rawat, Activist, writer, Delhi

Vijay Kishor, Delhi

Wilfred D Costa, INSAF

India: How the MIM’s brand of polarising politics worked in Hyderabad

Asad, Akbar, Anarchy
The Telangana factor could prove to be a boon for the Owaisi brothers. G Vishnu tracks how the MIM’s brand of polarising politics worked in Hyderabad and could spread elsewhere

G Vishnu
Tehelka, 2013-09-14, Issue 37 Volume 10
http://www.tehelka.com/asad-akbar-anarchy/

India: MIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi again barred from addressing meetings in Maharashtra

From: The Hindu
HYDERABAD, June 12, 2013

MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi barred from entering Malegaon and Dhule

Special Correspondent

AIMIM president and MP, Asaduddin Owaisi, is barred yet again from addressing meetings in Maharashtra. He is barred from entering Dhule till June 26 and Malegaon in Nashik district till July 12. A Police Inspector of Maharashtra served the notices on Mr. Owaisi at his residence here on Wednesday.

Earlier, on January 31 also the Hyderabad MP was denied entry into Aurangabad to address a public meeting. The police cited the cases registered against him in several Telangana districts and also the tense situation in Aurangabad following the alleged hate speech by his brother and Majlis leader, Akbaruddin Owaisi.

Mr. Owaisi was scheduled to address a public meeting at Malegaon on June 14 for which permission was sought a month ago. Police orally conveyed to local Majlis leaders that Mr. Owaisi could address the meeting after ‘Shab-e-Barat’. It was on this very night in 2006 that bomb blast took place at Malegaon.

The Majlis leader said he had not scheduled any public meetings at Dhule but only wanted to meet the local party leaders. Police feared that Mr. Owaisi’s visit to Dhule, where Muslims were killed early this year, might rake up trouble, it is said.

“This is not good for democracy. I am a Member of Parliament and I have a right to differ with the government”, Mr. Owaisi remarked.

He said the Congress-NCP government had developed ‘cold feet’ and therefore denied permission to him to address meetings. “They know they are loosing political ground to the Majlis”, Mr. Owaisi said and referred to the huge crowed at his Aurangabad meeting sometime back.

The Majlis leader wondered why he was denied entry into the Maharashtra towns when he was allowed to address a ‘jalsa’ at Nanded ten days ago. To a question, he said he would consult party workers in Maharashtra and decide the future course of action.

Hyderabad: Target Composite Culture Again

[recieved via email] Feb 22, 2013 at 10:07 PM

Mustafa Khan

Muslim scattered section of the old city, Konark theatre,
Venkatadri theatre, time 7 pm Thursday 21, 2013 two bombs exploded
killing 18 people and injuring more than 50; and a third bomb remained
unexploded at a footbridge. All these happened within hundred meters
from each other.
It is eerie realization but true that the city had it coming
what with frequent visits of Praveen Togadia to the city, Akbaruddin
Oweisi openly and defiantly challenging the Hindu right to a face to
face confrontation for fifteen minutes sans police. In this face off
every one would hold breath in expectation as to who throws the
gauntlet and who takes it up first. Zee News reported that it was the
Indian Mujahideen behind the blasts. This is the preprogrammed
automation reply. Doubts will be raised later and case would prolong.
This is beginning at square one unless an early breakthrough changes
the set scene. Beginning in default of the real.
It did not take long to come. Chief Minister Narendra Modi
asked his state ATS and state Intelligence Bureau ( the collusion of
Modi and Rajedra Kumar of IB is known fact in many cases including the
intelligence input of IB of Centre Government on Ishrat Jehan as
terrorist)to contact their counterpart in Hyderabad. In all the fake
encounters of Gujarat Hyderabad police colluded with the Gujarat
police with impunity, be it the murder of Haren Pandiya, Sohrabuddeen,
or even the Ahmadabad blasts. Police officer Narendra Amin not only
was involved in killing Sohrabuddin/Tulsiram Prajapati but he also
killed with his service gun a Maulana’s son when the Muslims of
Hyderabad protested against the arrest of innocent people including
the Maulana. Till today the Andhra Pradesh police have not bothered to
make forensic examination of the service gun let alone question
Narendra Amin.
However, the police in Gujarat are on high alert and asked to
keep tight vigil and watch the crowds, perhaps a hint that the
planters of bomb in Hyderabad may have fled there as they might have
revenge for 2002 massacre of Muslims in Gujarat as motivation.
The central government had on Tuesday sent an advisory asking
all states to tighten security in sensitive places as Lashkar-e-Taiba,
Jaish-e-Mohammad and Hizbul Mujahideen may launch attacks to avenge
the hanging of Ajmal Kasab and Afzal Guru. This is also reaction in
default of the real. Even the papers have several reports of the same
nature. The Delhi police claims ipso facto that the IM accused Syed
Maqbool and Imran(arrested in October 2012) had recced the cites at
Abids road, Dilsukh nager, in July 2012. That they had done it for
Riyaz Bhatkar as usual in all the recent attacks including July 13,
2012 attack in Mumbai and the Pune low intensity blasts. (AA Feb 22,
2013)
There is more disturbing news of how the Gujarat police in
association with the Andhra/Maharashtra police are doing its official
work. To save Yashpal Chadda from arrest in Sohrabuddin case Nitin
Shainai and Rajesh Ranjan had given 3 crore to a cop Amitabh Thakur.
This was paid ultimately to the CBI chief Kanda Swamy. Thus the
undertable business in vibrant Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh went on.
What is even more ominous, one cror was transferred to a central
government officer. (Asia Express Feb 22.) Of course, Thakur and Kanda
Swamy denied the charges. But interestingly a Home Guard officer had
told Kanda Swamy, at Nasik that Vijay Neelkanth Pophale (RSS activist)
had kept two of the bombers of September 8, 2006 in Tulsi lodge at
Satana Naka, Malegaon, no heed was given to it. The lead was lost.
Even in Malegaon a rich man Mahesh Patodiya had paid one cror 65 lakh
for the blasts to a police officer the lead was not taken up for
consideration. The police had called Patodiya and twenty Hindus for
questioning but let them off. Even if this was part of grapevine there
was need to investigate because the police had taken the Home Guard to
Nasik specifically at the instance of Kanda Swamy IG level officer of
CBI. Under the ruse of Malegaon terror attacks of 2006 and 2008 were
subsumed under jehadi terrorism and wrongfully innocent people were
accused and put in prison. In the case of the later attack after
suspenseful lull Hemant Karkare did what no one had done before.
The game of hunting for Muslims is again on. If Riyaz Bhatkal
and Imran are indigenous terrorists then seeking their higher ups in
Afghanistan and Pakistan is preposterous proposition. That is where
the investigation agencies go astray. Their home work is incomplete
and inadequate. So Indian foreign secretary on a tour in the US was
less than indigenuous like the erstwhile National Security Advison MK
Narayanan when the latter derailed the Samjhauta express attack
investigation in the larger context of fighting terrorism in the
aftermath of the attack on the Indian embassy in Afghanistan. Ranjan
Mathai for the same reason perplexes others rather than clarifying
anything when he says while touring the US: “Terrorism is and will
remain a pre-eminent security challenge for both our countries. Our
convergence on the source and the nature of the threat in our region
has never been greater. It is therefore a challenge that provides us
an opportunity for enhanced cooperation in combating terror and
protecting our people from it. This is even more of an imperative
today, as we move into a period of significant uncertainty in the next
few years.” He finds the “source and the nature of the threat” in
Afghanistan, and of course, Pakistan. And now you have it.
The third attack in Hyderabad coincided with the Indian
Parliament going into the budget session and the home minister
apologizing for his remark that BJP and RSS have been training Hindu
youths in mounting terror attack. The big question now is who mounted
this attack in Hyderabad.
Another big question is the source of RDX. In Pakistan RDX is
easily available in the market, in India it is used by the army. So
the terror attacks of 2006 have the provenance of RDX in the explosive
substance seized by the ATS in the so called arms haul case of
Aurangabad. Zabiuddin Ansari or Abu Jundal is involved, the police
claim. But the man who reportedly gave him the Tata Indica in
Aurangabad denied in the MCOCA court before the judge, SV Modak that
he ever rented out the car to Zabi. This also came out on the day of
Hyderabad blast. Who will now clear all this murk? Sushil Kumar Shinde
said that BJP and RSS are training youths to explode bombs but now he
says that he regretted it and the RSS says the he should apologize but
Congress reasserts that Shinde’s accusation was based on facts!
Whatever ultimately turns out to be case—whether it was really
United Jihad Council, even—the face-off between Togadia and Akbaruddin
gave an opportunity the deepen the gulf.

Jyoti Punwani: Indefensible, any which way

The Hindu - 31 January 2013

A new martyr has arisen on the horizon, going by the unlikely name of Owaisi. Intellectuals of all shades — except the Hindutva brand — are protesting the “victimization” of the Owaisi brothers as “Muslim leaders.” Their father, “Sultan” Salahuddin Owaisi, a veteran instigator of communal riots, must be chuckling in his grave, wherein he was interred with full State honours by the ruling Congress, just as another rabble-rouser was given a similar send-off recently.
The parallels between Bal Thackeray and the Owaisi brothers are many. Akbaruddin Owaisi’s speech has echoes of the Sena chief’s rants: the same denigration of the other community, the same call to arms cloaked in religious terminology, the same self-projection as the saviour of the community, even the same vulgarity. Charged Shiv Sainiks used to react in the same way as the all-male Muslim audience did at Nirmal.
But the differences are significant. Bal Thackeray insulted Muslims all the time; indeed, the word he used to refer to them was itself derogatory. But on record, Thackeray never insulted the Prophet. However, throughout his speech, Owaisi abuses Hindu deities and beliefs.
Second, while Thackeray targeted the ruling Congress in the State and Centre, Akbaruddin targets “Hindustan,” not once, but again and again. “Ai Hindustan,” he warns, don’t trifle with “us.” Does Akbaruddin Owaisi consider “us,” i.e., himself and his community, a part of Hindustan, you wonder. In keeping with this attitude is his threat that if driven away, he and his community would take with them all “their” treasures — the Taj Mahal and other Mughal monuments. What is all this if not spreading feelings of separateness from the country in a specific community? When Thackeray accused Muslims of disloyalty, we wanted him prosecuted under Sec 153 A — promoting enmity between communities. When Owaisi spreads feelings of hatred against the country among his community, what should he be charged with?
There is a third difference. Unlike Thackeray’s phoney cry of “Hindus in danger,” the litany of injustices against Muslims recited by Akbaruddin is all true. Which is why, had he berated the ruling party in the worst terms possible, it would have been perfectly understandable. But he wouldn’t have been an Owaisi had he done that. Listen to what his brother said opposing the Women’s Reservation Bill in Parliament in 2010. Were it passed, he threatened, “the Lok Sabha will turn into a Hindu Lok Sabha.” This outlook — of looking at all issues not only through the prism of a communal identity, but one which is distinct from the rest of India — permeates the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM). Just a fortnight ago, addressing Muslim students, the party secretary termed the installation of Gandhiji’s statue in the Andhra Pradesh State Assembly as an attempt at “changing history” because the building was constructed by “Nizam Sarkar.”
Vendetta politics
Apart from the rich gains of communal politics, the Owaisis would rather target Hindus and Hindustan than the Congress because the mother of all secular parties has always patronised it, like it has the Shiv Sena. Its reluctance to prosecute the younger Owaisi for his speech was a reminder of its reluctance to prosecute any Thackeray. The arrest earlier this month of Asaduddin Owaisi, his elder brother, for an offence committed in 2005, was obviously a fallout of his withdrawal of support to the Congress in his State. When Maharashtra’s then Deputy Home Minister Chhagan Bhujbal arrested Bal Thackeray in 2001 for his writings during the 1992-93 riots, it was the Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alone that complained about an eight-year-old case being dug up. Some secular activists now crying foul over Asaduddin’s arrest had hailed Bhujbal then, even though Thackeray’s arrest was as much vendetta politics as this Owaisi arrest .
This 2005 case is not the only one in which the MIM MP has been charged under Sec 153 A. Between 2005 and 2008, four cases were registered against the MIM president not only for promoting enmity between Hindus and Muslims, but also for rioting with deadly weapons, deliberately insulting religious feelings, and defiling a place of worship with intent to insult a religion. In none of these did prosecution proceed, thanks to a benevolent Congress administration. This is the man the secular Congress allied with. This is the man a section of secular activists is out to defend.
Be it the Shiv Sena, Bhindranwale, or the Owaisis, the Congress has encouraged rabble-rousers of all communities, and acted against them only when forced to. The divisive poison spewed by all has been more or less of the same intensity, but Hindu demagogues have been protected oftener than their counterparts from other communities have. So, should the latter also be awarded the same impunity? The internet, that took Akbaruddin Owaisi’s utterances to the world, can be similarly used to book Raj Thackeray, Togadia and MP Adityanath. If police stations and courts are flooded with complaints, some action will have to be taken.
Let’s not forget that it was a magistrate relying on police records who convicted Sena leader Madhukar Sarpotdar, the first politician in Maharashtra to be convicted under Sec 153 A, 16 years after his offence.
(Jyoti Punwani is a Mumbai-based journalist and writer).

Open letter to Mrs. Sonia Gandhi regarding arrest of Mr. Asaduddin Owaisi

Indian American Muslim Council | 6321 W. Dempster St. | Suite# 295 | Morton Grove | IL | 60053-2848

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)

India: The Owaisis represent a damaging idea — that Muslims can only be represented by Muslims

From: Indian Express

Speaking for ourselves

Seema Chishti : Wed Jan 23 2013, 02:54 hrs

The controversial and much Youtubed speech made by Andhra MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi landed him a spell in jail. The nearly hour long speech has evoked comparisons with inflammatory speeches by Varun Gandhi and Praveen Togadia. Now, his brother Asaduddin Owaisi, Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) chief and an MP from Hyderabad, has been sent to jail because of his alleged involvement in riots in 2005. Together, the brothers constitute an emerging brand of “Muslim neta” who finds it fruitful to look for an exclusively Muslim constituency.

Akbar Owaisi’s speech has a context. In the cyber-world of “Muslim issues”, where there is a constant lament over things not yet done for Muslims and the insurmountable institutional bias, a case for a committed “Muslim” leadership is being made. Even TV debates seem to look for a “Muslim” counter, a suitably rightwing rabble-rouser, rather than a political counter to those arguing against Muslim “appeasement”. The presence of such a soapbox has fuelled the political ambitions of some who feel that as Muslims, only they can understand and fix certain problems.

The most important political takeaway from Akbar Owaisi’s speech comes when he lampoons advocates of “secularism”, saying with pride that he is a “Muslim-parast” — a votary of the Muslim cause. Unlike Mulayam Singh Yadav and others, he is the “real thing”. It becomes evident that Owaisi’s fighting an old battle once again, one that was first fought in the 1930s, when his party, the MIM, was formed in the state of Hyderabad, then under the nizam. The MIM was formed in opposition to the secularists who had staked a claim to the political turf and fought feudalism. These secularists recognised and sympathised with Muslim backwardness, but did not cast it only in an identity framework. It is possible that after years with Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy and the Congress, the MIM now finds it necessary to reassert itself and its original agenda.

India’s still narrow but emerging Muslim middle class, which lies outside the traditional Muslim elites and occupations, has made forays into areas like pharmaceuticals, IT and other forms of entrepreneurship. This middle class, active on the internet, would be aware of the online platforms and chat rooms where there are animated discussions of the Muslim problem. For the last five years or so, websites that claim to give us “Muslim India” news have all carried a subtext — the absence of a Muslim leadership. A recently activated website has been carrying the responses of Indian Muslims, from varying backgrounds, who were asked to identify three problems that affected the community and judge whether the political leadership was capable of solving them. Speculation that Narendra Modi could become PM has added to a subliminal anxiety among Muslims — that they would become invisible voters in an electoral battle that only seeks to win the Hindu vote.

In chat rooms on the internet, some advocate the formation of a party modelled on the Bahujan Samaj Party of the 1990s or the Samajwadi Party, both of which voiced the concerns of a particular constituency. What is missing in these discussions is the fact that both the BSP and the SP eventually grew desperate to extend their constituencies and become more inclusive. The Muslim yearning for representation has been met in some places by a Muslim leadership — by Badruddin Ajmal’s Assam United Democratic Front, by the controversial Popular Front in Kerala and, for a while, by the shortlived Peace Party in UP. But a legitimate desire for representation is being clouded by the idea that Muslims must be represented by “one of our own”. It is important to understand the need for representation and contest this narrow notion of Muslim leadership, because such identity politics continues to hold hostage the idea of modern representation in India.

The myth of the monolithic Muslim vote has circulated since 1952. But after the Muslim League faded from politics, Muslims have seldom looked to a Muslim leadership to represent them. After staying with the Congress till 1967, the Muslim vote moved away from it, looking for alternatives. Except for some pockets, the majority of the Muslim electorate has supported parties like V.P. Singh’s Janata Dal, the Left, the SP, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, and later even the BSP and the Trinamool Congress. Parties like the MIM in old Hyderabad — and the Indian Union Muslim League, now in alliance with the ruling Congress in Kerala — have been exceptions.

After 2004, the Congress re-emerged as a strong favourite and the UPA has consolidated its image as a “secular” alliance, distinguishing itself from the NDA. So the period since 2004 has been an interesting time for the Muslim vote. It started with the Sachar Committee Report, which spoke of discrimination in secular terms, with secular solutions. It spoke of the need for more common schools, not just madrasas, more general hospitals, not just unani centres, and a more equitable share of common resources, whether in terms of jobs or bank finance. The report prioritised these over a different set of rights and privileges for Muslims — in terms of personal law, waqf land matters etc. But the enthusiasm over the Sachar Committee Report’s attempt to frame the debate in terms of fairer access to resources soon flagged. The political gains of discussing sarkari salaries for imams and madrasa modernisation were greater than those of trying to set up common schools in Muslim areas.

Some months ago, a prominent national leader made a startling statement to a group of Muslims. Since Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, he said, there had not been a big Muslim leader. That India’s first education minister and a formidable nationalist like Azad could be called a Muslim leader frames the problem itself.

The pressure on Dalit, Yadav, Muslim or even women leaders to always be seen to be speaking for their respective constituencies can have damaging consequences. Sixty one years ago, when India made the transition to universal adult suffrage, caste and other identities certainly did not die. But it was a transcendental idea, offering a poor, unequal, caste- and prejudice-ridden society an important way out.

The failure of secular parties to fulfil the secular aspirations of the last few years has allowed parties like the MIM to use the prevailing sense of disappointment and claim their turf once more. But in India, for a Dalit voice to make the loudest case for Dalits, or a Muslim voice to make one for Muslims, is like Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi organising a dharna for the cause of Gujarati lawyers recently returned from South Africa.

seema.chishti@expressindia.com

Akbaruddin Owaisi and other hate-mongers - Editorial, EPW

From: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol - XLVIII No. 03, January 19, 2013

Editorials

Fifteen Minutes of Infamy

Will Akbaruddin Owaisi's speech yield political dividends or bring all other hate-mongers to justice?

In the five decades of its existence the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) has remained a minor player in the politics of Andhra Pradesh representing a section of the Muslims of Hyderabad. It now has a few members in the legislative assembly and one member in the Lok Sabha. However, a recent speech given by its legislature party leader, Akbaruddin Owaisi, in Adilabad has suddenly catapulted it to national prominence and the MIM has been subjected to intense scrutiny by mainstream and social media. Akbaruddin is in jail, finally arrested by the police for spreading hate among communities and waging war against the country. The most quoted of his outrageous statements was one where he said that if the police was removed from the country for 15 minutes, India’s 25 crore Muslims (a fancy number in itself when the census states it is 13.8 crore) would teach a lesson to 100 crore “Hindustanis”. Akbaruddin made other incendiary statements as well and it is only proper that he has been arrested. However, the interesting thing is that he has been making similar speeches for at least 15 years, carrying on the “fiery” oratory tradition of his father, Salahuddin Owaisi.

The MIM under Qasim Rizvi defended the “independence” of an Islamic state of Hyderabad under the Nizam at the time of Independence in 1947. It organised the “Razakars” (a mercenary army) infamous for its violence and killings of communist partisans and Hindu subjects of the Nizam. It was banned after Hyderabad state’s merger with the Indian Union in 1948 but was revived by Rizvi, in 1957, in the 48 hours he had between being released from prison and leaving for Pakistan. It is common knowledge this was part of a deal with the Government of India to undercut the popularity of the Communist Party of India in Hyderabad by propping up the MIM to wean Muslims away from it. Rizvi appointed Abdul Wahab Owaisi as president of the revived MIM before leaving for Pakistan.

In its second incarnation the MIM gave up its demand for an Islamic state but adopted aggressive Muslim fundamentalism to weld an electorally viable political bloc. It took some time but by 1969 the MIM got its first member in the legislative assembly, slowly increasing that number to about half a dozen. In 1984, the MIM won the Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat and has remained undefeated since. The secret of its electoral success has been the sense of security it has provided Hyderabad’s Muslims who have suffered, since Independence, regular bouts of intense violence at the hands of an aggressive Hindu right as well as an insensitive state administration. The growing muscle of the MIM has neutralised this violence and since 1990, when the last major communal violence took place in Hyderabad in the aftermath of L K Advani’s “rath yatra”, there has not been any major incident in the city. Media reports and academic research both suggest that Hyderabad’s Muslims vote for the MIM largely because of the security it provides and the space this has opened for Muslims to pursue business, jobs, education and recreation without fear. The growing public profile and self-confidence of the Muslims of Hyderabad has also helped sustain a politics which foregrounds their cultural assertion.

However, this success has also limited the MIM to parts of the city and one community, and retarded its growth. Akbaruddin’s brother, Member of Parliament Asaduddin Owaisi, tried to transform the MIM into a broad platform of marginalised communities, Muslims as well as lower caste Hindus by giving tickets to non-Muslims in local body elections. While this strategy proved unsuccessful (mainly due to the inability of the MIM to let go of its religious core), Akbaruddin’s political line of returning to the aggressive politics of Muslim fundamentalism has paid rich electoral dividends. The MIM recently won an unprecedented 11 seats in municipal elections in Nanded in neighbouring Maharashtra. It was in pursuit of this strategy that the MIM formed the United Muslim Action Committee with the All India Muslim Personal Law Board office-bearer, Abdur Rahim Qureshi, as its convenor, and had recently withdrawn support from the Congress-led governments in Delhi and Hyderabad.

It remains a matter of conjecture as to why this particular speech suddenly caught national attention. A major role has been of new media and social networks where a video of Akbaruddin’s speech went “viral”, forcing attention by the mainstream media, government and judiciary. While the wheels of justice move indecisively and slowly, the political ramifications of this unexpected trial of Akbaruddin are significant. By foregrounding “Muslim” hate of Hindus, this speech will give a fillip to the Bharatiya Janata Party and other Hindutva forces not just in Andhra Pradesh but around the country. In Hyderabad, this will lead to a further consolidation of Muslims behind the MIM, leading to a strengthening of communal politics. The fact that action has only been taken against a “Muslim” leader when scores of Hindu extremists have said worse things but remain untouched by the law will further polarise opinion. The Congress government in Andhra Pradesh is playing both sides. It has charged Akbaruddin with sedition to win “Hindu” votes, an accusation that is unlikely to stand up to legal scrutiny. The MIM leader will then be freed and this will thus keep the “Muslims” happy. The coming forward of progressive forces to denounce Akbaruddin’s speech and the public outrage over his comments will hopefully not only scuttle attempts to let him off the hook, they should also force a reluctant state to initiate action against all other hate-mongers. Anything less will be too dangerous to contemplate.

At Sniff of Polls Netas Fan Communal Flames (Mazher Hussain)

From: The Times Of India - Hyderabad

Date: Jan 13, 2013, Section: Times City: Page: 5


GUEST COLUMN

At Sniff of Polls Netas Fan Communal Flames

Mazher Hussain

Recurrence of communal riots in Hyderabad has become part of elections with conflicts engineered during the year preceding elections to polarize communities and reap votes. Most conflicts occur in areas with ahistory of communal discord but facilitate communal polarization in other places in the vicinity.

Most of these conflicts happen in the Telangana region, a few in Rayalaseema and negligible in coastal Andhra. Linguistic, cultural and social differences between Hindus and Muslims of Telangana seem to be the prime reason for more communal conflicts in the region.

Communal conflicts in Telangana started from 2010 and not a year before the 2014 elections as would be expected. Further, violence is also taking place in cities and towns without any history of communal tensions. The design appears clear: a long term plan to polarize Hindus and Muslims in as extended an area of Telangana as possible.

Similar situations were witnessed from late 1960s in Hyderabad where communal conflicts had become regular phenomena. The allegations are that Majlis Intehadul Muslimeen (MIM) was responsible for most of these conflicts and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its earlier avatar, Jana Sangh, accounting for the rest. MIM certainly made electoral gains from this period with no representation till early 1960s to 45 Corporators, their Mayor, seven representatives in the State Assembly and one Member of Parliament at present. Similarly, BJP also gained the MP seat from Secunderabad thrice and won some MLA and corporator seats in the city.

Now BJP along with a plethora of Hindutva outfits seems to be embarking on the strategy of communal polarization covering Telangana while MIM has restricted itself to old Hyderabad. Hence riots are happening even in cities and towns without history of communal conflicts. A variety of instigations like targeted attacks on youth of a particular community leading to one death; throwing animal flesh in both mandirs and sasjids etc to instigate riots, The latest and the most dangerous is the controversy over the Bhagyalaxmi temple that abuts the Charminar. According to police investigations, members of Hindutva outfits were found to be responsible for most of these instigations.

BJP was always a bit player in Andhra Pradesh and has only three MLAs in the Assembly. But by providing unequivocal support for a separate Telangana and instigation of communal conflicts in as many places as possible, Hindutva forces are attempting to achieve electoral gains in the region on the basis of support from votaries of a separate Telangana along with polarization of Hindus and Muslims. In these circumstances more riots may be expected.

Though Majlis gained from polarization of Muslim votes, it could not go beyond winning 4 to 5 Assembly seats and started actively reaching out to Dalits and Lambadas (a tribal community) by making a Dalit the Mayor of Hyderabad in mid-80s and by giving tickets to Dalits and tribals to contest corporation elections. This gave Majlis 2 to 3 additional seats in the State Assembly and 4 corporators.Most of the Hindu – Muslim riots are riots between Muslims and Dlits or backward lasses. With the increased dependence of Majlis on the Dalit and tribal votes to improve its tally, any riot now becomes counterproductive for Majlis. Hence Majlis has been showing restraint even under provocation during last three years. However,with such continued provocations if Majlis continues to keep silent, it could earn the wrath of the Muslim community and lose its vote. In this situation two different approaches seem to be available to Majlis.

The first one is of taking on the Hindutva forces. The provocative speech by Akbaruddin Owaisi is a manifestation of this confrontationist trend that could lead to tensions and further the interest of the BJP. The other is the prevailing approach of ignoring the provocations for greater electoral gains. But provocations from the Hindutva forces could eventually force Majlis to give up on prospects of increased electoral gains and act to retain its core Muslim vote.

Given the uncertain political scenario, the state government lacks the required will to effectively check trouble mongers. In such a situation, it appears that people will have to come forward to prevent violence or face consequences.

Even though political interests instigate conflicts, riots cannot continue till common people get carried away and engage in targeted violence. Hyderabad also suffered for years from bouts of such mass hysteria but after so many riots, members of the public from both communities in Hyderabad have begun to understand the role of political parties and are no longer becoming easy prey. Consequently communal riots in Hyderabad have come down substantially.

How frequent will the conflicts be in Telangana region and for how many years will depend on how soon the people of the region realize that they are being used as cannon fodder. It took the people of Hyderabad over 30 years to gain this realization.

(The writer is an Executive Director of COVA)

Owaisi hate speech: 'Competitive communalism at work'

From: rediff.com

Owaisi hate speech: 'Competitive communalism at work'

Last updated on: January 4, 2013 15:05 IST
Akbaruddin Owaisi addresses a massive public meeting in Nirmal in Adilabad district on December 24

Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen legislator Akbaruddin Owaisi is under fire for the alleged "hate speeches" he delivered at Nizamabad and Nirmal in Adilabad district against the majority community.

Dr Zafarul Islam Khan, president, All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat, a non-political body of prominent Muslim organiastions, and Lateef Mohammad Khan, general secretary, Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee, Hyderabad discuss the speeches and their repercussions, in an interview with rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa.

What are your thoughts on the speeches delivered by Owaisi?

Zafarul Islam Khan: It was clearly a hate and rash speech in which words that should never have been uttered by a responsible person, let alone a political leader, were used. It was a Muslim version of the speeches delivered by Praveen Togadia (president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad) and (BJP MP from Gorakhpur) Adityanath.

Lateef Mohammad Khan: This is routine Andhra Pradesh politics; there's nothing new in it. It was not Owaisi's speeches but just a repetition of the words spoken by Ram Jethmalani. It was a political speech, and it should be seen in the scenario of the changing political situation of Andhra Pradesh. For decades, such speeches have been heard from both the communities. This trend was started by the VHP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

'Speech was against Andhra govt's discrimination of Muslims'
Last updated on: January 4, 2013 15:05 IST
The construction of a temple near Charminar

Does the Muslim community in Hyderabad get swayed by such speeches?

ZK: Akbaruddin Owaisi was making an electoral speech in anticipation of the assembly elections in Andhra next year. The two-hour long speech is against the Kiran Kumar Reddy government and how it has been discriminating against Muslims, be it in the housing sector, distribution of water or electricity, jobs. But the immediate provocation was the Reddy government's refusal to remove the illegal temple, which has cropped up on the outer wall of the historic Charminar, and Togadia's threat that he will make Hyderabad into Ayodhya.

LK: The present atmosphere in Andhra Pradesh is communalised due to growing Hindutva under the garb of the Telangana movement. Muslims are under attack in every part of the state.

Muslims have lost confidence in the state government. They feel helpless; their emotions are high. One thing deeply rooted in the minds of the Muslims is that secularism is only a word in India and it cannot be implemented in a practical manner. Muslim masses are not influenced by such speeches because they are aware of the ground reality.

'Owaisi will now be recognised as a national leader'
Last updated on: January 4, 2013 15:05 IST
Security has been beefed up near Charminar following the controversy over the temple

What sort of acceptance does Owaisi have among the Muslims in the rest of the country?

ZK: Owaisi and his party, the Majlis Ittehadul Muslim, are limited to the old city of Hyderabad, but recently they won some seats in the municipal elections in Nanded, Maharashtra.

LK: Akbaruddin Owaisi is the MLA from the Chandrayangutta constituency of Hyderabad. He is the floor leader of the MIM. At present, he does not have the status of national leader but now surely he will be recognised as national leader due to Shabnam Hashmi's unwise interference. (A social activist, Hashmi, filed an FIR against Owaisi for his speeches.) Whatever fame he gets now, that credit will go to Hashmi.

The people of Old Hyderabad have often complained about the lack of development. In such a scenario how do such speeches help?

ZK: In fact, the thrust of the whole speech is that the minority should not trust the Congress because it has done no developmental work in the Muslim areas. Old Hyderabad is now in a very dilapidated condition while an ultra-modern new Hyderabad is taking shape. The blame should go to the state government for ignoring the historic part of their capital.

LK: This speech is not related to the development issue but it was a political speech. It was not even delivered in Hyderabad. When the RSS and Hindu Vahini deliver similar speeches in rural areas, Muslims there get upset and are afraid.


'Mecca Masjid blast was an attack on Muslims, their identity'
Last updated on: January 4, 2013 15:05 IST
Lawyer Kashimshetty Karuna Sagar, who filed a petition against Owaisi for his hate speech

When hundreds of Muslim youths were arrested in connection with the Mecca Masjid blast, Owaisi was not much in the picture. Why do they still see him as their leader?

ZK: It is true that the Owaisis were not in the forefront of the earlier agitation against unjust arrests made under the guise of fighting terror. But like many in the community, they too felt that there was some truth in these stories. The government agencies cannot perpetrate such a huge fraud. But now the Owaisis are clear that 99 per cent of the stories were fake and cooked up by communal elements in the police and the Intelligence Bureau. They realise that the youths were forced to confess following torture in custody. That's why so many youths are getting acquitted after having spent years behind bars.

LK: The terror attack on Mecca Masjid was a unique; it was an attack on Muslims and their identity. The people who died were Muslims, the police fired on Muslims, and the people blamed, accused and arrested were also Muslims. So in those hard times, the religious and political leaders lost their wisdom, courage and were unable to understand the situation.

Hindutva terrorists wanted to create a situation like this to eliminate Muslim identity and leadership. This is when the Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee took up the campaign and exposed Hindutva terrorism.


'Modi is a danger to BJP and India'
Last updated on: January 4, 2013 15:05 IST
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi

But what provoked Owaisi to make such a speech?

ZK: The immediate provocation was and remains the illegal temple allowed to come up near Charminar, which is a landmark structure and the identity of Hyderabad.

LK: There was provocation by the Hindutva forces, but Muslim leaders tolerated it and their patience ran out. Communal emotions are very high in Andhra Pradesh due to the Telangana movement and the inactiveness of the Reddy government.

There are references to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the speech. Do Muslims still view him as a threat?

ZK: Modi remains a bete noire for Muslims. Unless and until he apologises to the community and makes good all the injustices he has done in the past decade to Gujarat Muslims, by rehabilitation, just compensation and justice to the victims of the 2002 pogrom, there is no question of changing our view about him. He and his party know that he is not a "danger" to Muslims alone but to the BJP and to India. His acts of omission and commission are now an albatross around his and his party's neck just like demolition of the Babri masjid was and remains an albatross around the neck of L K Advani.

LK: Of course, Modi has committed a major crime. Not only Muslims but also many non-Muslims view him as a danger to life and liberty.


'It's the responsibility of majority community to prove their secularism'
Last updated on: January 4, 2013 15:05 IST
RAF forces deployed in Hyderabad during the recent communal disturbances

This looks like a never-ending battle. Now the Hindus may react. Where does all this end?

ZK: This is true. We are watching competitive communalism at work in our country. Muslims are reacting to the Hindutva-driven communalism championed by the likes of (former Bajrang Dal leader) Babu Bajrangi, Togadia, Adityanath, (VHP leader) Ashok Singhal, Sadhvi Ritambhara, Bal Thackeray et al.

Our system too works selectively. Muslim perpetrators of the riots of March 1993 were rigorously pursued, tried and jailed and rightly so, but the police and Hindu perpetrators of the anti-Muslim riots in December 1992 and January 1993 (which provoked the March 1993 riots) remain untouched. The Srikrishna Committee report on Telangana collects dust to this day.

Look at the Hindutva crusade by the VHP, Bajrang Dal and umpteen extremist organisations like the Abhinav Bharat, Ram Sene and Sanatan Sanstha etc. There has been no proper probe into their activities and they are not banned.

But the Students Islamic Movement of India, whose first ban order never claimed that it was a terrorist organisation or had committed a single terrorist act, remains banned to this day.

Thousands of Muslim youths have been arrested, tortured and thrown into jails on fictitious charges but Muslim protests make no dent into this crusade. For years, Hindutva leaders had repeated ad naueum that not all Muslims are terrorists but all terrorists are Muslims. Now this has been reversed.

The ingenious strategy was simply superb: commit terrorism in such a way that Muslims will get blamed -- they will suffer in the blasts and will get caught also for the same! Yet our government will touch only a few small fries while the big ones are roam free. Persons like Indresh Kumar and Togadia, mentioned in Malegaon and Ajmer chargesheets, are untouchable.

LK: This is not a new batt#8804 it started when the British entered India. Hindutva elements under the banner of the Hindu Mahasabha supported attacks on Muslims. The main accused in the demolition of Babri Masjid became the deputy prime minister of India. So this is a never-ending battle, which is the nexus of Hindutva fascism, Israeli Zionism and American imperialism.

It is the responsibility of the majority community to prove their secularism and tolerance. It is the duty of the civil liberties and human rights activists to watch, monitor and work to ensure that the human rights and civil liberties of people should not be violated by both Hindu and Muslim political class.

Bring All The Owaisis, Muslim and Hindu to book (Shirish Koyal)

[excellent article calling for action against all the Owaisis, both Muslim and Hindu. But where it gets jarring and unacceptable is in its defence of the charges of sedition. I think the rules pertaining to Hate speech need to be invoked instead of the 'sedition' which is fast becoming standard fare. . .]


From: The Times of India

The Owaisis, both Muslim and Hindu, must be brought to justice

Shirish Koyal

10 January 2013, 03:39 PM IST

I should thank the fracture I have suffered. My foot set in plaster of Paris, I lay immobilised when I decided to find out what exactly Akbaruddin Owaisi, the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) leader, had said. This was after reading the reassuring news that he had at last been arrested for making inflammatory speeches in Andhra Pradesh. It was all on YouTube. With all the time (otherwise, a scarce commodity) at my disposal, I logged on.

Shock is not the word to describe my reaction to the speech; it’s much more. The speeches were not just inflammatory; they were a naked aggression on the unity of India, made through derogatory references to Hindus, their religious practices and their deities. A diatribe like Owaisi’s can offend the feelings of anybody in his senses. The MIM leader’s communalism was unabashed — just like that of his party — mocking Hindus and their religion more than pandering to the base instincts of the morons who applauded every venomous word dropping out of his mouth.

Owaisi did make perfunctory references to poverty among Muslims, their insecurity and lack of opportunities. The fact is that the MIM has, in its 86 years of existence, only helped to keep these issues alive, knowing well how to keep the communal pot boiling. It has controlled Hyderabad’s Old City, where Muslims are concentrated, through the power of muscle and money. Even those who vote for the MIM know how phoney the outfit is.

Videos of Owaisi’s incendiary speeches led me to a clip that showed a verbal clash between him and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Kiran Reddy in the legislative assembly. Even there, the tone and tenor of Akbaruddin’s speech were the same. There was no doubt he was striving to drive a wedge between people. Even his elder brother, Asaduddin, who heads the MIM, speaks as if Muslims are the only people who exist and matter.

Akbaruddin’s rants brought back memories of speeches made by Narendra Modi, Pravin Togadia, Vinay Katiyar, Uma Bharti, Sadhvi Rithambara and the Thackerays. L.K. Advani didn’t sound much different in the Sangh Parivar’s “mandir-wahin-banayenge” days. Their derogatory references to Muslims have never brought any glory to the Hindu religion. These people are on the opposite side of the communal divide they have created together with the likes of the Owaisis. But the reality is that there can’t be people more similar. Their thought and language are alike; their ideologies are communally motivated; their world view equally constricted; their opposition to liberal, modern thought is strikingly similar. One can call them two sides of the same coin.

It’s just right that Akbaruddin Owaisi has been charged with sedition and waging war against the state, besides other serious offences. It’s time all Owaisis, Muslim or Hindu, are given similar treatment and punished. Never mind if they are potential Prime Ministers. Hope Akbaruddin’s case will make peddlers of hate think twice.

Poet Sahir Ludhianvi's description of communal politicians fits the Owaisis accurately:

ये दीन के ताजर, ये वतन बेचने वाले

इंसानों की लाशों के कफन बेचने वाले

ये महलों में बैठे हुए कातिल, ये लुटेरे

काँटों के एवज रूह-ए-चमन बेचने वाले

(These traders of religion, these sellers of the nation

Sellers of shrouds on human corpses

These killers sitting in palaces, these looters

Barterers of the garden's soul for thorns)

Now that Owaisi is in jail, how about Praveen Togadia?

by Mahtab Alam  
 

Akbaruddin Owaisi, an MLA of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly, who belongs to a Hyderabad-based political party All India Majlis-e-Ittihad al-Muslimin, better known as MIM, and its floor leader in the Assembly made an inflammatory speech against Hindus on 24 December 2012 at a public meeting in Adilabad District. The speech attracted widespread condemnation by Muslim activists, rightly so, apart from left, liberal individuals and organizations. Dr. Zafarul Islam Khan, President, All India Muslim Majlis e Mushawarat (AIMMM), an umbrella body of prominent Indian Muslim organizations termed it ‘a hate and rash speech’ arguing, ‘words that should never have been uttered by a responsible person, let alone a political leader, were used’.

Shabnam Hashmi, a prominent social activist and who has been relentlessly working on the issue of minority rights registered an FIR in Delhi against Owaisi stating, ‘the whole speech is highly objectionable, inflammatory and against the values of our constitution, democracy and secular values’. Similarly, FIRs were also registered in the State invoking section 295 A (for deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings) and 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups) of Indian Penal Code (IPC). Owaisi was arrested finally arrested on Tuesday (8th January) and sent to 14-day judicial custody.

However, there was a small section of Muslims, mostly individuals, who held this as an illustration of the ‘double standards of civil society and state machinery’. The crux of their argument was, that while governments take speedy actions and act in a haste in the cases where Muslims are involved even in petty crimes, criminals belonging to the majority community roam free despite being involved in all sorts of serious crimes such as communal carnage, mass murders, looting and rapes, let alone the cases of hate speech. While on the surface, these allegations might appear as a desperate attempt to defend communalists belonging to the Muslim community – and indeed some of them may be—the fact is that these claims are not that far removed from reality.

Sample this. Praveen Togadia, Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s (VHP) international working President, during his recent visit to Hyderabad in December last year, made an equally inflammatory and communal speech while addressing a press conference in the city. The VHP president at the press conference on the issue of controversial Bhagya Lakshmi Mandir- Charminar threatened Muslims by saying that ‘VHP will convert Hyderabad into Ayodhya if Hindus are not allowed to perform Puja’. The simple fact is that Hindus have never been stopped from performing Puja. He further thundered the VHP would teach Muslims of Hyderabad a lesson that they would never forget. Following this, a few cases have been registered against him but the government is yet to act. It is well known of course that this is not the first time when he has made such a speech. In fact, several such cases are pending against Togadia, not only in Hyderabad but in different parts of the country; and the police and the governments have never acted against him.

And Togadia is not a solitary soldier: there is a veritable contingent of Togadias whose prime work is hate mongering and inciting violence, especially in situations where there are higher chances of communal disturbance and violence. It has become almost a routine for these forces to fuel violence in name of protecting their religion, religious tenets and identity or interests of their fellow religionists and people. Ashok Singhal, Adityanath Yogi, Uma Bharti, Sadhvi Ritambhara and Raj/Udhav Thackeray to name a few. What is strange, though often understood, that they draw their supports from political parties of all hues. While certified communal political parties like BJP and Shiv Sena lent them open support, self- appointed secular parties like Congress and Samajwadi Party would never bother to book them according to the law of the land despite ample evidence being available. Hence, these cases of selective action only prove that our governments utilize double standards for crimes of similar nature, for criminals belonging to minority and majority communities. Varun Gandhi is the sole exception, and there are indications already that the UP government may go slow on him, after he submitted an application for quashing of the case against him.

It was interesting also to see how the Owaisi saga played out in the electronic media. Watching these programmes, one would think that Owaisi was the originator of hate speech in India, and not simply one among the many who blight public discourse through their venom. TV anchors after anchor summoned ‘Muslim’ politicians from a range of political parties daring them to condemn Owaisi. Would the Congress Party spokesperson be ever asked to condemn Togadia – or Rithambara or Uma –as a Hindu or as someone opposed to their politics or ideology?  Why then this rush to seek declarations from Muslim politicians as Muslims? Coming just months after all TV channels were paying obeisance to Bal Thackeray, whose political career was built on hate and its articulation, the self righteousness of the various channel heads is only amusing.

So now that Owaisi is thankfully arrested, the larger question is: what about Singhals, Yogis, Bhartis and Thackerays? Will they ever be arrested and sent to jail like Owaisi for their umpteen numbers of crimes? This must be answered; at least to show that we as a constitutionally declared secular country – considered to be the world’s largest democracy – do not practice two different sets of rules for majority and minority. Remember, mere lip service like in the past would not work this time as it would only further the argument of the State practicing double standards.

Is anyone listening?

(Mahtab Alam is a Delhi based civil rights activist and freelance journalist. Email: activist dotjournalist at gmail dot com.)

An antidote for pure poison - Editorial by The Hindu on Hate speech

The Hindu, January 4, 2013

An antidote for pure poison

Rival religious extremists survive by feeding off each other. In India, Hindutva and Islamist leaders and activists have often mobilised men and materials through inflammatory hate speeches. But by any yardstick, the recent rabble-rousing speech of Akbaruddin Owaisi, leader of the Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly, plumbs new depths. In substance, his speech was a clear attempt to promote enmity between Hindus and Muslims, and disrupt the fragile peace in tension-filled Hyderabad to the political benefit of himself and his party. Now that the courts have directed the police to register a criminal case, the judiciary will have the final word on the legality of his vicious remarks. One thing is certain, however. Civil society needs to make it clear that those who incite hatred and violence against people on the basis of their religion or any other identity ought to be punished one way or another. If the police or courts won’t prosecute, convict and send them to jail, such would-be ‘leaders’ must be boycotted socially and politically.

In his rant, Mr. Owaisi used a clever trick: he first attacked the Hindutva outfits and leaders for their actions, and then proceeded to equate all Hindus with these extremist elements. This was akin to the Hindutva extremist line of holding the whole Muslim community responsible for Islamist terror. The threat of physical violence implicit in his speech attracts Section 153-A of the Indian Penal Code. To the discredit of the MIM, other leaders, most notably the party’s Member of Parliament Asaduddin Owaisi, Akbaruddin’s elder brother, have not uttered a word of reproach against this hate speech. However, Mr. Owaisi is not the first person to thumb his nose at the laws of the land through hate-filled, incendiary utterances. VHP leader Praveen Togadia, the late Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray, and BJP leader Varun Gandhi are prominent among the many in the Hindutva parivar to have made hate speeches. Of these, the case against Mr. Gandhi is proceeding slowly; otherwise, as in Hyderabad, where the police acted only after the courts received private complaints, the law enforcing authorities prefer not to touch these extremists citing, as an excuse, the threat that their organisations will unleash violence in the event of an arrest. In effect, the law in India is often reduced to a political tool that is applied selectively. Police inaction in previous cases is, however, no reason to be lenient in the present instance. Mr. Owaisi has crossed the line with the pure poison he served up. India, Andhra Pradesh and Hyderabad cannot afford a spiral of incitements to violence. He must be made an example of.

Case registered against Owaisi of MIM for inflammatory speech

From: anhadin.net


Press Release - complaint against Mr. Akbaruddin Owaisi of MIM for inflammatory speech




SHABNAM HASHMI
23, CANNING LANE, NEW DELHI-110001
EMAIL: shabnamhashmi@gmail.com

January 2, 2013

DCP PARLIAMENT STREET
PARLIAMENT STREET POLICE STATION
NEW DELHI

SUB: REGISTRATION OF CASE UNDER Section 153A

Dear Sir,

I am writing to you to draw your attention to the speech of Mr Akbaruddin Owaisi, given a few days ago. The speech is available on you tube and is being circulated on the facebook extensively.

This highly inflammatory speech made by Mr. Akbaruddin Owaisi of MIM and member of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly was delivered on December 24, 2012 in Nirmal town of Andhra Pradesh.

The whole speech is highly objectionable, inflammatory against the Hindu religion and against our cultural heritage. It is a strong attack on the values of our constitution, democracy and secular values. Such obnoxious speeches divide society, vitiate peace and lead to conflicts and riots.

I request you to immediately register a case against Mr Akbarudddin Owaisi under section 153 A of the IPC. I request you to take exemplary action in this very serious matter to ensure that such intolerable acts are never repeated again, anywhere by anyone and secure peace and harmony in the country.

This speech falls under this section as it has clearly causing enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and is causing a threat to communal harmony.

Yours sincerely

Shabnam Hashmi 9811807558

Indian Penal Code (IPC)

Section 153A. Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony

1[153A. Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony.—(1) Whoever—

(a) By words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise, promotes or attempts to promote, on grounds of religion, race, place or birth, residence, language, caste or community or any other ground whatsoever, disharmony or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities, or

(b) Commits any act which is prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony between different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities, and which disturbs or is likely to disturb the public tranquility, 2

2 [ ( c) Organizes any exercise, movement, drill or other similar activity intending that the participants in such activity shall use or be trained to use criminal force or violence of knowing it to be likely that the participants in such activity will use or be trained to use criminal force or violence, or participates in such activity intending to use or be trained to use criminal force or violence or knowing it to be likely that the participants in such activity will use or be trained to use criminal force or violence, against any religious, racial, language or regional group or caste or community and such activity for any reason whatsoever causes or is likely to cause fear or alarm or a feeling of insecurity amongst members of such religious, racial, language or regional group or caste or community,]

Shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.

Offence committed in place of worship, etc.— (2) Whoever commits an offence specified in sub-section (1) in any place of worship or in any assembly engaged in the performance of religious worship or religious ceremonies, shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to five years and shall also be liable to fine.]

CLASSIFICATION OF OFFENCE

Para I

Punishment—Imprisonment for 3 years, or fine, or both—Cognizable—Non-bailable—Triable by any Magistrate of the first class—Non-compoundable.

Para II

Punishment—Imprisonment for 5 years and fine—Cognizable—Non-bailable—Triable by Magistrate of the first class—Non-compoundable.

Owaisi of MIM and Togadia of VHP cometeing with each other to whip up communal frenzy

From: The Times of India

Complaint against VHP chief for 'communal' remarks
TNN | Jan 2, 2013, 03.10 AM IST

HYDERABAD: Following closely on the heels of a complaint petition filed against MIM MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi in a local court against his alleged inflammatory speech in Nirmal, Adilabad district.

A city advocate has approached the court on Monday with a petition against Parveen Togadia, VHP international president.

The petitioner pleaded before the Seventh Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate at Nampally to take cognizance of the communally inciting utterances of Togadia wherein he is reported to have said that if the Hindus were stopped from performing puja at Bhagyalakshmi temple abutting Charminar, Hyderabad would be turned into Ayodhya.

As the Hindus from all over the country gathered in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, they would descend on Hyderabad similarly, he is reported to have threatened in front of media persons.

Togadia was speaking to mediapersons at Charminar during his visit to the city on December 12. The complainant Ghulam Rabbani, an advocate, urged the court to direct the police to register a case against Togadia.

The advocate claimed that he read the account of Togadia's remarks in a section of the media. The court posted the matter to January 2.

Secular Activists Condemn Hate Speech by Akbaruddin Owaisi in Andhra Pradesh

Condemnation of Hate Speech by Akbaruddin Owaisi

We strongly condemn the reprehensible speech by Mr. Akbaruddin Owaisi of MIM and member of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly delivered recently in Nirmal town of Andhra Pradesh. Such obnoxious speeches and statements divide society, vitiate peace and lead to conflicts and riots that eventually result in deaths and destruction causing untold hardships to the poor of all communities. Coming from a responsible Member of a Legislative Assembly makes it even more detestable and unacceptable.

We demand that the authorities take exemplary action in the matter to ensure that such intolerable acts are never repeated again, anywhere by anyone and secure peace and harmony in the country.

Elections are due next year and given the history of instigation of communal conflicts for polarization of communities to reap electoral benefits, we can expect more such provocative statements and hate filled speeches by representatives of different communal parties and reactionary groups. Hence we appeal to the people not to react to such deliberate provocations and fall prey to the machinations of communal parties that seek electoral gains through politics of hate and violence.

Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer- Mumbai

Swami Agnivesh- New Delhi

Mahesh Bhatt- Mumba

Mazher Hussain- Hyderabad

Hamid Mohammad Khan- Hyderabad

M. Mandal- Hyderabad

Irfan Engineer- Mumbai

Sandeep Panday- Lucknow

Ram Punyani- Mumbai

Thwart Communal Forces : report from Awaaz seminar in Hyderabad

People's Democracy, December 02, 2012

AWAAZ SEMINAR IN HYDERABAD

‘Uphold Rule of Law to Thwart Communal Forces’

UNAMBIGUOUS implementation of rule of law is very crucial in thwarting the rise of communal forces in the country. Those occupying constitutional posts must believe in the Constitution and never hesitate to prosecute anyone who tries to fuel communal passions, felt Communalism Combat editor and activist, Teesta Setalvad in Hyderabad on November 18, 2012. She was addressing a state level seminar on ‘Atrocities against Muslims’ organised by Awaaz state committee.

The seminar, which was held in the wake of recent communal disturbances in the old city of Hyderabad on the issue of expansion of Bhagya Lakshmi temple abutting historic monument Charminar, was chaired by Awaaz . Teesta spoke about the issue and said that both the Hindutva forces and MIM are trying to communalise the issue and benefit politically. The strategy of Hindutva forces in using these kinds of issues is well known. In this background, it is very important that ordinary, well-meaning people of both communities should sit down and engage in discussion about resolving this controversy in a balanced manner. They should not let the entire public discourse and space be taken up by the communal forces in both communities, she said.

Talking about the threat of communal forces, Setalvad said that they are working 24x7 among all sections of people to achieve their aim of communalising the society. They are picking and creating issues that would drive a wedge among the communities. The Hindutva forces, as seen in Gujarat and elsewhere, are roping in tribals and dalits as foot soldiers for their hate campaign. The secular forces in the country must wake up to this danger and take on these forces unitedly.

In this connection she spoke about the importance of enforcement of rule of law. She felt that if justice was done to the victims of 1984 massacre of Sikhs in Delhi then the Mumbai riots would not have happened or if justice was done to victims of Mumbai riots then Gujarat 2002 carnage would not have happened. Therefore the ongoing struggle for justice in Gujarat is very important. She said the recent Supreme Court judgement in Naroda Patiya case was a huge step forward in the struggle because it punctured the culture of impunity. For the first time politically important people with backing of top leaders have been convicted.

Setalvad expressed disappointment that this important judgement did not get as much coverage as it deserved in the media. She said our media would call attacks on Sikhs in US a ‘hate crime’ but would not call Gujarat incidents as ‘hate crimes’. She felt that the upper caste and upper class dominated media and our middle classes are uncomfortable in dealing with communalism, hate crimes and hate speeches. “They are comfortable in raising corruption as an issue. But they refuse to see communalism as a cancer that is eating at the vitals of our nation. That’s why they push these things under carpet without confronting them.”

Setalvad attacked the BJP as being the most cynical party that is always raising divisive issues because electoral politics have been linked to such issues. However, if one sees last two or three elections, people, particularly youth, are not getting swayed by these issues because they have seen through the gameplan of these communal forces. She said that is the rason why BJP and Hindutva forces have become desperate and are trying their best to destabilise the secular framework. For example, after the Samajwadi Party came to power in in Uttar Pradesh, there have been 12 incidents of communal violence perpetrated by these forces. Faizabad, which was a secular bastion, also witnessed violence recently. These efforts can be foiled only if the secular parties become assertive and ensure that rule of law prevails.

Referrring to Narendra Modi being projected as the future prime minister of the country, she said it is largely because of the public relations exercise that Modi is carrying on in order to makeover his image. Modi pays $25,000 per month to APCO Worldwide, an international PR firm that specialises in image makeover of dictators across the world. Also top industrialists like Ambanis, Mittal, Ratan Tata, Bajaj and others have endorsed him as suitable PM candidate, which has never happened in the history of India. She felt that global capital and Indian big business seem to desire Modi’s dictatorial style of functioning as a means to rush ahead with their loot of resources and wealth. “Although this is a very dangerous trend, I am sure people of India will reject Modi as PM”


CPI(M) central committee members M A Gafoor and P Madhu, Siasat Urdu daily editor Zahed Ali Khan, Awaaz secretary M A Gayas and others also spoke in the seminar.