Owaisi versus Educated Muslim . Who wins will decide fate of country
India is a large hearted country. She has sheltered anyone who has come to her. This has been her nature. After independence she became a democratic republic ensuring equal rights and treatments for one and all.
Unfortunately the blind policies of previous governments the country lost het balanced approach towards development of all citizens. Politics took over national interest and as a result the country started moving into an unchartered territory where everything is fair just like in Live and war situations. This has been further exploited by certain politicians more brazenly and blatantly unlike others. Maybe they belong to all political parties but under PM Narendra Modi , the nuisance value of such out of turn speaking politicians reduced drastically to an almost ZERO level. We have used the word almost just to give a margin of error else it is equal to zero. We don’t hear any absurd, outrageous, religious volatile statements these days esp from the right wing parties and leaders. On the contrary one politician who has been making noise is the AIMIM chief Asadudddin Owaisi who has been becoming bolder and bolder by the days.
He is a four-time Member of Parliament (MP), representing the Hyderabad constituency in Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian Parliament. For years, he has been regularly listed one among the 500 Most Influential Muslims of the world.
Asaduddin Owaisi completed his graduation in Bachelor of Arts from Nizam College (Osmania University) in Hyderabad. He represented the South Zone inter-university U-25s cricket team as fast bowler in the Vizzy Trophy in 1994 and later got selected in South Zone university team. He is a barrister by profession and studied at Lincoln’s Inn of London. His brother Akbaruddin Owaisi is a Member of Telangana Legislative Assembly and heads the party in it. His youngest brother Burhanuddin Owaisi is the editor of Etemaad [ source: wikipedia ].
Owaisi belongs to the Hyderabad-based All-India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) party, of which his father and grandfather have been presidents. Owaisi was awarded the 2014 Sansad Ratna award (Gem of parliamentarians) October 2013 for his performance in the 15th session of Indian parliament. During this period, he asked 1080 questions in the Parliament compared to the national average of 292. No doubt Owaisi has high intellect and is known for his sharp logic and debating skills. He speaks his mind without fear and can at times go beyond political correct statements. He also likened with Jinnah for taking up the cause of Muslims.
So far so good. But there is a negative side of Owaisi brand politics which pierces the heart and mind. He has the capacity to mobilise the minority in the name of religious emotions and rights which is quite dangerous. He makes an appeal in the name of unfair treatment to muslims and fighting for their rights. Muslims have been a real scapegoat in the country. The congress and other governments milked the community to the extent possible without caring for their upliftment socially, through education and reforms in the community. They ignored their more than 5 children norm which has become an important reason for being economically poor and standed. Today any hindu or other caste family thinks twice for even getting the second child as the cost of education and space to live has become a major problem. But the muslim commmunity never thought of it and still continues to pump the national population.
Conclusion:
Leaders like Owaisi never saw such a problem as an issue. Instead like other indian politicians penchant for cheap and easy way out has he has also tried for Muslim reservations. One other reason why muslims have not fared well in the economic contribution is the status of women in the community who have not joined the national work force. If one sees the Hindu or other community women play a major role in sharing household income and thus boosts living standards of a family.
Owaisi has also been controversial in opposing things like yoga and slogans like Bharat mata ki jai. These two things not have any religious overtones and must be adopted by muslims without making noise. Further his jingoistic statements to attract minorities with ‘challedar’ language and at times challenging hindus and Modi government does not go very conducive towards national integration. Leaders like Owaisi could have played a much more positive role in strengthening the nation. He could have inspired the muslim youths and others for joining national mainstream by controlling population, educating themselves and for a reformative stance.
This is where the country needs educated muslims to come out in the open and oppose the Owaisi brand of politics. Muslims have been misled by one and all. They need true torch bearers for showing them the path ahead that should not have any political overtones. IN fact the Owaisi brand of leadership does not have any attention towards social upliftment of the community but like the congress and many other political parties is just another way of capturing power and position.
By supporting Modi government the Indian educated muslim can do a big service to the nation. For , Modi government has provided the largest benefits to the community. We have seen that Muslims are some of the highest benefactors of Pradhan mantri awaas yojana, Gas connections and ayushman bharat. Most of the villages and towns in the country have seen a sudden upsurge utilising these schemes in last one year due to coordination by muslim communities which can become a lesson for others. Still the muslims population shies away from endorsing and praising Modi and BJP government under pressure from mullahs and religious community. Muslims need leaders who can come out of this narrow religion based politics and work on real social based issues.
Therefore the role of Indian educated muslims becomes more important to the extent that the fate of the country will depend how well and how large they come out and support nationalist politics rather than a religious based short sighted approach. Just like many Hindus support a non religious and Hindutva based politics similarly muslims must also endorse non religious politics which will bring greater harmony in the country.
Of late many such muslims are being seen in national politics and elsewhere. Many from the Kashmir valley are also supporting the Modi government. BJP and sangh parivar must support these muslims in way possible so that they get a proper platform to boost the nationalist sentiments in the country and the role and power of leaders like Owaisi can be controlled and diluted.
The benefit of Owaisi’s AIMIM in Bihar and now in Bengal will bring short success to the BJP but will harm the nation in the long run. It is therefore important that he is countered appropriately and rightly in time before he becomes a greater and bigger menace. Now is the time for the same.
Extension of the article. Supplementary content . others may stop here reading.
Caste politics in Muslims: Indian Muslims, too, are victims of caste-based stratification, and are divided into three main classes and hundreds of At the top of the hierarchy are the ‘Ashraf’ Muslims who trace their origin either to western or central Asia (for instance Syed, Sheikh, Mughal, Pathan, etc or native upper caste converts like Rangad or Muslim Rajput, Taga or Tyagi Muslims, Garhe or Gaur Muslims, etc). Syed is highly revered and their status is almost symmetrical to the Brahmins in Hinduism. [source: The Print]. biradaris. biradari
One sees that the higher castes muslims have dominated in securing good government posts since independence while the lower end muslims have failed in doing so. There can be multiple reasons for the same and one of that is the poor education and economic condition of the lower castes withing the muslim community. The savarna Muslims constitute about 15 per cent of the entire Muslim population in India, while the rest comprise the backward, Dalit and tribal Muslims.
The philosophy of social inequality within Muslims is termed Syedism, and movements against the Ashraf dominance have been led by the ‘lower’ ones — Ajlaf (backward Muslims) and Arzal (Dalit Muslims)—at least since the beginning of the 20th century.
Caste-based endogamy and observation of social distance, the mocking or taunting of subordinate caste Muslims, the existence of separate burial grounds, the practice of forcing lower Muslims to stand in the back rows during Namaz prayers in certain regions, and the practice of untouchability against Dalit Muslims among others. It is the result of such literature and efforts of the aforementioned organisations that the backward, Dalit and tribal Muslim communities — Kunjre (Raeen), Julahe (Ansari), Dhunia (Mansuri), Kasai (Qureishi), Fakir (Alvi), Hajjam (Salmani), Mehtar (Halalkhor), Gwala (Ghosi), Dhobi (Hawari), Lohar-Badhai (Saifi), Manihar (Siddiqui), Darzi (Idrisi), Vangujjar, etc. — are now organising under the identity of ‘Pasmanda’: the ones who have been left behind.
Questions are being raised about the representation of Pasmanda Muslims in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. As per one analysis, of the 7,500 elected representatives from the first to the fourteenth Lok Sabha, 400 were Muslims — of which 340 were from Ashraf (upper caste) community. Only 60 Muslims from the Pasmanda background have been elected in fourteen Lok Sabhas. As per 2011 Census, Muslims constitute about 14.2 per cent of India’s population. This means that Ashrafs would have a 2.1 per cent share in the country’s population. But their representation in the Lok Sabha was around 4.5 per cent. On the other hand, Pasmandas’ share in the population was around 11.4 and still they had a mere 0.8 per cent representation in Parliament.
Whenever Pasmanda Muslims try to contest an election, the Ashraf Muslims taunt them as Dhunia, Julaha, Kalal, Kunjra or Kasai. They make all efforts to ensure their defeat. On the other hand, whenever an Ashraf candidate is fielded, voting for him and ensuring his victory is termed as an Islamic responsibility and virtue. Now, the Pasmanda Movement has launched a struggle against Syedism in Islam with “85 per cent versus 15 per cent” slogan. The Pasmanda community is now talking about politics of rights instead of (virtue/piety), and (medicine/healthcare) instead of (supplication).
Samanvaya
Http://www.samanvaya.org.in
