It was not long ago when Asaduddin Owaisi and his brother Akbarudin
Owaisi romped home to heroes' welcome in Maharashtra. In the assembly
elections last year in one of India's most industrialized states, the
Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) party won two seats and was runner-up
in four places. The rabidly communal party that was limited to Old
Hyderabad had conquered a new citadel -- and smashed Congress hopes.
And
after the MIM's spectacular performance in local bodies and corporation
elections in Maharashtra, the MIM has turned its attention to northern
India including Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Bihar. In many areas of Uttar
Pradesh, it is trying to spread its tentacles, and successfully.
In
July, Asaduddin Owaisi received a rousing welcome wherever he went in
western Uttar Pradesh. Mulayam Singh Yadav, the Samajwadi Party
patriarch who lost the plot in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, seems to have
sensed the danger.
Owaisi has said his party is serious in
contesting elections in Uttar Pradesh. While Uttar Pradesh polls are two
years away, secular parties in neighbouring Bihar are already scared.
Owaisi
is going to be both a dividing and a uniting factor in Bihar. While he
can divide the Muslim voters, he is going to help the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) consolidate Hindu votes behind it. There is no denying the
fact that the one party extremely happy over Owaisi's entry into Bihar
is the BJP.
While Muslim leaders in Uttar Pradesh are speaking
out against Owaisi and his brand of hate politics, those in Bihar don't
want to talk about him, lest he get further media attention. Ahmed
Hasan, the health minister in the Akhilesh Yadav government, is very
blunt. He calls Owaisi a BJP agent and that Muslims are not gullible to
be swayed by rabble rousers like him.
Azam Khan, another senior
Muslim leader in the state, also claims that Owaisi is a BJP agent.
Addressing a Muslim gathering recently, he said the Owaisis were doing
the BJP's bidding.
Now Muslims in Bihar are worried. They believe
that the Owaisis entry will divide Muslim votes and his rabble rousing
speeches tinged with communal rhetoric will consolidate Hindu votes
behind the BJP.
And the man who is grinning from ear to ear is
none other than Amit Shah, the wily BJP president who sees his chances
brightening in a state where most pre-poll surveys gave the
RJD-JD-U-Congress alliance an edge. Those surveys were done long before
Owaisi's entry and the rousing welcome that he got in areas like
Kishanganj.
A few more tours by the Owaisis can ensure a huge
chunk of Hindu votes shifting to the BJP. Muslim votes will also get
divided as the youths see Owaisis as their messiah who speak in
tit-for-tat lingo. It is about time Muslims realized he is not a messiah
and his brand of communal politics will make India unlivable.
Muslim
leaders of the past had realized this threat. On December 28, 1947,
S.A. Barelwi and Maulana Ahmad Said, vice president of Jamiatul Ulama,
advised Muslims to dissolve communal groups. "The time has come when
Muslims of all shades of opinion must take a united decision to abjure
communal politics which, far from serving the real interest of the
masses and affording them necessary protection and security, (tends) to
encourage social and political reactions and injure national life by
encouraging false and unnatural divisions and fostering hatred and
suspicion among different communities."
(Syed Ubaidur Rahman is a
New Delhi-based columnist and author. The views expressed are personal.
He can be reached at syedurahman@gmail.com)
