Owaisi urges Muslims to cultivate political leadership ahead of Telangana polls

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday sought to make a case that Muslims in India were being reduced to the role of mere voters and urged the community to build and strengthen its own political leadership. He challenged intellectuals to a debate over comments of Muslim parties not being ‘good for the country’.

Mr. Owaisi was addressing a public meeting in the run up to the Telangana civic polls in Jagtial from where the party has fielded eight candidates in the Jagtial Municipality. Here he pointed out that the prevailing political attitude sought to confine people to voting ‘and sitting at home’.

“You are not merely voters. You are citizens with rights,” he said, adding that Muslims had historically been prevented from developing independent political leadership. Referring to the early years of the country, he maintained that Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, when he was Education Minister, did not enter Parliament for a year. “Ask them why this happened,” he added.

The Hyderabad parliamentarian criticised what he indicated were subdued interventions by Muslim Members of Parliament from the Congress and Samajwadi Party over matters of faith. Referring to a recent parliamentary debate on Vande Mataram, he alleged that while several Muslim MPs failed to articulate a position, he had spoken by invoking both the Constitution and religious freedom.

Mr. Owaisi indicated that parties indulged in tokenism during Ramzan and Bakrid. Responding to critics who state that the rise of Muslim political parties was not good for the nation, Mr. Owaisi said he was willing to publicly debate such claims. He pointed out that political leadership based on caste and community identities existed, including those of Thakur, Brahmin, Reddy, Velama, Kapu, Padmashali, Goud, Mala and Madiga communities, and questioned why Muslim leadership was portrayed ‘not possible’.

Describing Muslim political representation as ‘good for the country’, Mr. Owaisi said strong leadership was essential to counter communalism and ‘get work’ done.

Touching upon the scheduled special intensive revision exercise, he appealed to managing committees of masjids to speak about the issue. He said that no valid Muslim’s name should be removed.