An Open Letter to Janaab Asaduddin Owaisi Sahaab Dear Naaqeb-e-Millat Assalam-u- alaikum, I could be the last person to welcome you and your party All India Majlees-e-Itehadul Muslimeen (A.I.M.I.M) to the state of Maharashtra. Brother every now and then, large number of educated Muslims talks about Muslim Leadership in Democratic India. There was a time when examples of Muslim leadership & power use to begin from UP and end at UP. After 16th Lok Sabha elections, somewhere, the theory of powerful Muslim leadership shifted to Hyderabad (read: Darussalam). Today, two names: Asaduddin and Akbaruddin has become the talk of the of state & Muslim homes. Whether it is a small town with finger countable Muslim homes in rural Maharashtra or urban belts of Mumbai -- the sober educated ones listen to what you say, whereas young blood street fighters crazily follows Akbaruddin Owaisi (a.k.a Akbar Bhai / Akbar Miyan in Mumbai). Today, everybody (read: every politically aware Muslim), knows your journey from Hyderabad Public School to Sangareddy Jail to Sansad Ratna Award. Further, your clear stands on issues like Assam riots where there was lack of rehabilitation facilities for Muslims, or restriction on you to visit Mumbra for one-day conclave on Muslim Leadership and also your firm criticism against Modi Govt on their Israel-Gaza crisis reaction; gives a little sigh of relief that despite aggressive propaganda for one person, we, at least got one representative who talks for the community in the temple of democracy. Literally, tears rolls out when one watches you saying I stood here as a brother of Ishrat Jahan. AIMIM & Maharashtra The social media always helped getting instant access to Majlees-e- Itehaduls stand on array of issues. Two years back when your party forays into Maharashtra in Nanded elections resulting remarkable 11 victories, it gave a ray of hope to the million hearts across the state, in particular Mumbai and its suburbs. These days the Y2K generation happily talks about bringing Ittehad among different sects of our community. Many fathers also share their experiences, rise & fall of IUML, UDF, SP and others. With a smile on a face, today the youth also replies, Those were your attempts & chances father and Majlees is our chance to bring community united. Were sure, In Sha Allah, we will get the success and sustain it. Brother, it was noticed that to measure the air & water of Maharashtra polity, AIMIM is constantly sending delegations at various locations at regular intervals. The delegation which includes young Arfat Owaisi, middle aged good listener Moin Shaikh and experienced Mehmood Sahaab who properly worked harder & harder and met doctors, lawyers, educationists, ngos, opinion leaders, Muslim politicians, businessmen and of course Miyans diehard followers. On one hand the dashing entry of Akbar Bhai at grand Dawat-e-Iftaar in Mumbai, Bhiwandi and Mumbra added more spice to the situation. His interview to the press, saying, well be contesting upcoming assembly elections in Maharashtra, shivered & shuffled the traditional political dynamics of this region. This also led to launch of AIMIMs Mumbai, Bhiwandi and Mumbra unit in a hurry. Today on September 18 (hardly 25 days for the elections from now), it seems all political parties got busy preparing for elections campaigns, and on other hand, Majleess delegation is still busy interviewing likely candidates. Text messages, videos, newspapers cuttings, P2Cs regarding AIMIMs contesting Maharashtra assembly elections has virally spread like a fire across the state. How many seats will AIMIM going to contest? Will AIMIM going to contest safe seats only? Will AIMIM not going to contest tougher seats like Kurla, Solapur, Pune, Kokan? Will Asaduddin Bhai really going to give strong contender in Mumbra (as you openly warned NCP MLA and state minister that he will get an award from you in this elections)? There are endless questions which has become the topic for the discussions at restaurants, nukkads, pan shops and also at political meetings. Brother, in last LS elections Muslims also felt cheated as there was only 1 Muslim candidate (Mr. Hidayatullah) who got the party ticket from 26 INC seats, whereas Sharad Pawar led NCP didnt offered one single ticket to Muslim from his 22 seats in the state. The 2011 population census shows 11% of the state population is Muslim, which clearly shows that there must be at least 5 Muslim MPs from the state. In one of your public speeches, we have seen you criticising secular parties who pursued you not to contest your candidates in Muslim majority belts in LS elections. This made the stats more poor. Brother, the current exit polls (paid or unpaid), political analysts, and even the ruling parties has realised that this assembly elections there will be the replay of Lok Sabha elections .i.e. clean sweep of self acclaimed secular parties. The current downfall of INC and NCP clearly shows that they coming back in power is a daydream now. Amidst all this, the upcoming assembly elections gives you and your party a golden chance to contest as many Muslim & Dalit candidates as you can. Brother, as per the statistics out of 288 seats there must be 32 Muslim candidates from secular parties but it seems they are not in a mood to give fair chance and contest Muslim candidates even in Muslim majority areas where Muslim voters are about 50-55%. Traditionally, this creates vacuum for Muslim leaders to contest and tragically they end up following party protocol and support their candidate. The time has come to consolidate Muslim & Dalit votes and fetch maximum seats under Majlees. You dont have anything to loose in the upcoming elections. Your party can take this elections as a litmus test by contesting maximum seats, further, it will also going to help contest municipality elections (Mumbai, Bhiwandi and Thane together crosses Rs10,000 crores annual budget) with a handful experience. Other most important thing which we will going to achieve by fielding maximum candidates across the state is our attempt to bring ITTEHAD among us. Thank you!
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 21:00:30 +0000