Omar Govt has utterly failed: Asaduddin Owaisi
Known for his fiery
speeches, Asaduddin Owaisi
represents the Hyderabad constituency in Lok Sabha and is also the President of
the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen. During his recent visit to Kashmir,
Owaisi in a detailed interview with Rising
Kashmir’s Online Editor, Daanish Bin
Nabi, talks about Chief Minister Omar Abdullah-led government in the State,
Indian Muslims, and Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance
• We should try to win hearts and minds of Kashmiris
• Kashmiris are important for Kashmir resolution
• Indian Muslims discriminated for being Muslims
• Muslim votes divided because of corrupt leadership
• All Hindus are not rightwing
• Love Jihad only to create hatred for Muslims
·
You
visited the flood-affected areas of Srinagar downtown and uptown and saw the
condition of the flood-ravaged population of Kashmir. What are your views about the Omar Abdullah’s
government?
I call Omar’s government a gutless administration, which has
utterly failed on every step. Omar Abdullah as a young politician was a ray of
hope for the young generation of Kashmir but he has failed miserably. People
thought it will be an era of new beginning but he has completely let down. He
has not lived up to even one percent of the expectations.
·
How do
you see Kashmir issue and its resolution?
Asaduddin Owaisi: I definitely say Kashmir is the integral
part of India and in same breath I also say that Kashmiris are also an integral
part of India but at the same time
Kashmir issue requires a constant engagement by the government and at every level. The
issues which needs to be taken into consideration is the removal of AFPSA which
is not required at least not in urban
areas, issues of governance are lacking. Meanwhile, trade is going on via
Muzaffarabad and we should do everything to strengthen it. Now with the deluge which Kashmiris are
facing, this time again is the great opportunity to win the hearts and minds of
people of Kashmir. We should amply concentrate on reconstruction and
rehabilitation of Kashmir.
·
Do you
think that only by wining hearts and minds of Kashmiris that Kashmir issue will
get resolved?
These are some minor
important steps towards the achievement of the resolution of Kashmir issue.
There is lot of distrust and lot of suspicion among people of Kashmir because
of what has happened in the past. So, wining hearts and minds is an important
aspect for getting this vexed issue resolved.
·
Who
according to you are the prime players who should take a decision on the resolution
of Kashmir issue?
The prime player is off course the elected government so is
every Kashmiri important in Kashmir resolution. We should not divide among
communities. I am also of the view that every Kashmiri is important while going
for any solution.
·
Do you
think that the Kashmiri parliamentarians are able to represent the aspiration
of the people of the state like the way Jayalalithaa’s All India Anna Dravida
Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) does for Tamils?
It is the people of Kashmir who can answer this question better.
·
How do
you view 2010 uprising?
How can I forget 2010? Can anyone go and tell those parents
who have lost their children to forget everything. No one can forget 2010. It
was a huge tragedy for every one of us.
·
What do
think about the condition of Indian Muslims? How good or bad is the condition
of Indian Muslims?
As far as
socio-economic indicators and education of Indian Muslims is considered it is
are very bad. This I am sating on the basis of Sachar and Ranganath Misra commission
report and also on the basis of census reports. The main reason for all this is
the high rates of illiteracy among Indian Muslims. Large people of Muslims
population also live below poverty line. Discrimination is also an important
factor for worse condition of Indian Muslim. These are some of the main reasons
why Indian Muslims are lagging behind.
·
Do you
mean they are being discriminated for being Muslim?
Yes, discrimination is there because of being a Muslim. Not giving reservation benefits to Muslims is
in itself discrimination. Denying the
reservations for being Muslims is sheer discrimination and nothing else.
·
If
political parties in India like BJP, RSS, Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena do not shy
from spotting wearing their religious identities why do Indian Muslims try to
project themselves as seculars rather than Muslims?
Why should any Muslim has to show that he or she is a
secular rather than Muslim? We are all proud Indians. We should not succumb to
such emotional blackmails and we need not to keep on reinstating that we are
Indians. There is absolutely no need of thinking in such way.
·
But don’t
you think that every time Muslims in India have to show that he or she is a
secular?
No, I don’t think so. Why should one have an inferiority complex?
Why should one feel in such a way? Indian Muslims should not react to such
statement. There is absolutely no need for any Muslim to react to these
obnoxious statement. What is the need of shouting from rooftops that we are as
faithful as any other Indian?
·
Why
wasn’t Muslim league or any political party in India able to consolidate the
Muslim votes of India the way BJP consolidated the Hindu vote?
This is what Muslim community has to realise and our
community needs to do introspection. Establishing a political party which will espouse the cause of the
downtrodden in general and Muslims community
in particular, I feel it will only will strengthen the secularism of India because the other parties who claim
to be secular have totally let us down.
Muslims have been deliberately politically disempowered. The recent Lok Sabha
election is witness to it. From 28 seats the Muslim MP’s have come down to 23
now. There are also many states in India which have no Muslim MP’s like
Karnataka, Maharashtra, Delhi, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and
Gujarat. This is what we have to realise and unless Muslims don’t get their
political representation from Panchyat to the Parliament levels we will not be able to go
far. So, we need to realise all this and should work together for the
empowerment of Muslims.
·
Why has
the Muslim vote remained divided?
Muslims vote has got
divided only because of the bitter experiences of Muslims communities with
their own leaders. Leaders have deceived them time and again. That is the main
reason why Muslims have lost confidence in their leaders and because of these
things Muslims votes gets divided. We need leaders with good credibility and
who have good intentions for the upliftment of Indian Muslims. I am sure if we work
we can regain the confidence of our Muslim votes and for that hard work and
long struggle is required because nothing can be gained in life without
struggling. We cannot get instant success. To gain votes especially from
Muslims it needs lot of hard work and lot of convincing. This is not
impossible, it can be done but it will take time.
·
Are
Indian Muslims more rightwing than Indian Hindus?
I would say that even the Hindus are not rightwing because
if we see the vote percentage of recent parliamentary polls BJP only got 31
percent of votes, so nearly 69 percent people did not voted for BJP. So, we
cannot call all Hindus as right wing. Definitely, we can say that organisation
like VHP, RSS and Bajrang Dal are all right wing organisation. But we cannot make general statement that all
Hindus are rightwing. BJP’s coming to power with brute majority and they would definitely
try to destroy institutions which are very much required to remain independent
so that these institutions support secular set ups of our democracy. BJP might
try to destroy or play with these institutions. As Batra has said bring in a
new curriculum of education and likewise RSS chief talking about that India is
a Hindu Rashtrya. Then the recent statement of BJP MP is that love Jihad is
going on, while other MP’s say that madrassa’s are factories of terrorism. Then
PM himself has said from the rampant of Red Fort that give me 10 years of
moratorium. I must say that there is hypocrisy at every level.
·
What are
your views on Love Jihad?
Where is it and what is that? It is nothing but to create hatred
for Muslim and to create a communal polarizing atmosphere and I am sure people
will realise that these are reason behind it. In this day and age everything
needs to be supported by empirical data. Is there any empirical data which shows that Love Jihad
is going on and the best thing to talk
about is exploitation of women that is the main issue be it a Hindu or Muslim women. We should all work
together to stop this exploitation rather we should work on empowerment of
women community. These are two things which I am sure that nation will come out
and stand together.
·
Is
Pakistan a blessing or a curse for Indian Muslims?
This is a question which should have been answered in 1947.
My forefathers took a conscious decision of not going to Pakistan because they
realised rightfully that India is our country. Is it a curse or a blessing, for
me the nation I live in, is a blessing for me. Why would I look at another
country and look for blessing. For me India is a blessing.
·
How do
you view Narendra Modi as the PM of India?
If we go by first 100 days of his administration we have
seen all these divisive aggressive statements by the RSS chief, by the deputy
chief minister of Goa, by BJP MP’s, by this so called Love Jihad and then PM
himself in his maiden speech to the parliament saying Hum ko barasoo sal ki gulami se nijat mil gaya (We have got freedom
from slavery of 1200 years). If anyone put all these things in front of me I
would say this is not a good start.
·
Have you
forgiven Narendra Modi for the Gujarat pogrom?
I have said it in one of my parliament speeches that there are four incidents in the history of
independent India which have shaken the
foundation of our country first by the killing of Mahatma Gandhi, second is the killing of Sikhs in
1984, third is the destruction of Babri
Masjid and fourth is the genocide of Gujarat. When I have said this in
parliament then I think I need not answer such a question.
Interview published on September 22, 2014
