World

Is India ready for a '21st Century Jinnah'?

Emerging Muslim politician in India stirs hope and fear

Web Desk August 18, 2015

Asad uddain Owaisi. PHOTO: DECCANCHRONICLE

INDIA: There’s a new kid on the block, and he can pack a punch. This one takes the shape of Asaduddin Owaisi, dubbed the “superstar of the Muslim community” in India.

Owaisi, a third-term Member of Parliament from a small party in southern India, is seen as an inspirational leader who hopes to see a better future for the Muslims of India, where Hindu nationalist forces are on the rise in India.

Last October, nearly 60,000 Muslims congregated at a dusty parade ground in Aurangabad to hear Owaisi.

Amid chants of “the lion has come”, he took the podium and recited a short prayer before launching into a bold speech about the discrimination faced by Indian Muslims in finding jobs, accessing loans and encountering the police.

Read: India home to 180 million Muslims: Indian official

In his address, he told the youth to pray regularly and pursue education, adding, “This is our country as much as it is yours. We are not renters; we are also owners of this land. We should get our rights.”

Reveling fans climbed onto the stage to meet him, with many finding a messiah in him.

“I have never seen such a fearless leader before,” said Syed Jawad, a 22-year-old dairy shop owner who watched Owaisi in his city around 200 miles from Mumbai. “Owaisi is the new messiah for us.”

In an interview in New Delhi, he addressed Muslims’ lack of voice in India, saying: “Every community in India has progressed except Muslims.” The dropping numbers of Muslims in Parliament coincide with his concerns.

Read: Majority of Muslim women in India opposed to oral divorce: survey

Owaisi caused controversy by speaking for Muslim prisoners on death row, specifically Yaqub Memon, who was hanged for his alleged role in the 1993 Mumbai bombings, because he believes capital punishment has become a political tool. However, he continues to strive for justice for Indian Muslims.

“Call me provocative. Call me anti-national. But first, answer all the questions I am posing about discrimination and injustice,” he said.

Owaisi grew up in Hyderabad and is the son of a lawmaker.

Arshad Alam, assistant professor of sociology at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, admires Owaisi and believes he has the traits of a good leader that the Muslim community of India requires but wonders if Owais will engage in politics for the harassed only or go further.

Owaisi’s critics say he could fragment the country’s fragile multi-religious social fabric.

“He is pandering to the Muslim feeling of insecurity,” said Ram Madhav, general secretary of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. “His politics [are] dangerous for India because it deepens the sense of alienation and separateness among Muslims.”

Madhav went on to say Owaisi “is trying to become the 21st century Jinnah,” a controversial comparison to Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

The article originally appeared on TheWashingtonPost

COMMENTS (47)

Saleem Jawad | 8 years ago | Reply he is already making the political parties take note of him. He is born with a silver spoon, having been a 3 Times MP, highly qualified (bar at law) Rare to find educated politicians in India, Dashing, Good Looking,Daring, not scared to speak his mind, A true Lion, Such leaders are Rarely born,

Milind | 8 years ago | Reply This guy is killing time at the cost of Muslims.. In Aurangabad, he changed colours and tried to woo the lower castes Hindus.. I won't be surprised, if later on he becomes secular and tries to woo middle class Hindu votes.. We've seen this behaviour from Mayawati, Sharad Pawar who started by abusing upper castes (especially Brahmins), but later courted them and proposed quotas for them.. Point to ponder - Muslims up till now, never voted for Modi & BJP.. This would be a blessing for Modi & BJP as he's pulling the Muslim vote from Congress, Samajwadi parties..

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globalobserver | 8 years ago | Reply @N.S: "The reason is Muslims consider India as their own country, with about 1000 year history, culture ingrained in Muslims of India." I did say that no Indian Muslim wants to asylum in India while the opposite is true for Pakistanis. But, since you raised the issue, the 1000 year history and ingrained culture didn't stop them from demanding a separate Muslim nation and create Pakistan where they are trying very hard to erase any trace of the 1000 year history and culture.

rk singh | 8 years ago | Reply @zeeshan No such thing as Hindu law in India. We have common civil law. Muslims have separate sharia law. All others like Hindus , Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, artists, padsis and Jews follow common civil law. There was a opinion poll where 95% Muslim women opposed sharia and are in favor of common civil law.

Paa ji | 8 years ago | Reply @YLH: Thank you for rescuing Jinnah as he did not ask the writer of Washington post to compare him with anybody. He was a gentleman so unlike these vicious comment writers. But they won't understand this because it is beyond their pea brains.

Zainab Arshad | 8 years ago | Reply No one can take place of Jinnah...Jinnah was a gift from ALLAH Almighty...what a spirit he has...he said failure is a word unknown to me and he prove it...its good that Mr Owaisi is standing for muslims if india...but u have to fight like Jinnah...never put your head infront of any hindu...

YLH | 8 years ago | Reply As a Pakistani citizen and a biographer of Mr. Jinnah, I take strong exception to any such comparison between Quaid-e-Azam and this fellow Owaisi. Jinnah was an extremely refined man and not a rabble rousing Mullah which Owaisi despite his foreign education is. Please do not insult Pakistanis by comparing this cultural relativist to a renaissance man like Jinnah.

N.S | 8 years ago | Reply @globalobserver: The reason is Muslims consider India as their own country, with about 1000 year history, culture ingrained in Muslims of India.

Observant | 8 years ago | Reply Forget about the article, this is a Cut, copy paste of a article on Asaduddin Owaisi in "Washington post" showing the state of current media. Regarding Asaduddin Owaisi, he is not a savior of the Muslims in India, he is just another politician who is happy to play with the insecurities of Muslims and get his political gains. Unless people stop being ignorant and start understanding after all we are all humans who want to live a peaceful life. Things never gonna change

Vish | 8 years ago | Reply @globalobserver: You Nailed it man, not even Jinnah can answer for why "Indian Muslim is not asking for asylum in Pakistan"

Pity | 8 years ago | Reply @Aysha M: I wish you would have had prayed for Muslims all over the world not particularly for Indian Muslims.

JSM | 8 years ago | Reply This is not 1947 and India is not ruled by British.

Raheel Mirza | 8 years ago | Reply Assaduddin is trying to broaden his one seat Muslim party into a nationwide party. The only problem is he needs to win seats across a diverse nation where Muslims see themselves through the lens of sects, caste and regional affiliation. This is the problem with parties that see Indian Muslims or for that matter Indian Hindus as a single community. It's very difficult to build a case for nationwide unity. There is, of course, under development among North Indian Muslims. A lot of it is due to cultural aspects of less emphasis on education. And vote bank politics that have given rise to religious leaders issuing fatwas on who to vote for. The mistrust of the community from the post-partition days is generally gone. Jinnah among Indian Muslims is seen as a negative personality and Pakistan's precarious situation with Muslims killing Muslims is not seen as a great example to emulate. It will be a test for Indian politicians to not just rely on the economic growth wave to lift up Muslims but also be perceived as proactively creating economic opptys and good governance such as enforcing fair housing laws strictly. Lastly, Mr.Owaisi's demands are bang on and claims of discrimination in jobs and housing is fairly true. As long as he is able to keep these demands within the constitutional framework like idemanding more welfare resources and affirmative action than that will win community wide support for Mr.Owaisi. I think the Indian democratic system with its give and take is well developed that communal parties will not lead to alienation among Indian Muslims. And I think Indians have to thank Jinnah for that.

harkol | 8 years ago | Reply ET: Following is factual. Please publish. Owaisi is the most suave muslim politician of our generation, but sadly he is so mistaken. He says his forefathers chose to be in India, which is not entirely true. He hails from Hyderabad (Telangana), and his forefathers & the Nizam tried to side with Pakistan. Many of present muslims are children of those who wanted a Pakistan created, but only the rich Muslims of India migrated to Pakistan. He is right that India is as much his country as anyone elses. But, he is wrong about what ails Muslim community. It is not discrimination by state. The rich and educated muslims left India in partition, and the poor muslims had to overcome the suspicions of majority community for a long time. The Mulsims went in to a ghetto mentality of fortifying their existence in many places. The refusal of many muslims to eschew religious boundaries (& madrasa education) and accept modern education, has created a large underclass of Muslims who are low paid. Owaisi himself is well educated, and I appreciate him urging muslims to get good education. Because that is the only true deliverance any community can have in India. When Muslims are educated they will realize that Religion is a matter of strict personal sphere, not something has no role to play in public discourse, like Owaisi is doing. BJP won't win any election if it fought it on Hindu agenda. It won 2014, because of an economic agenda. Indians by and large are not beholden to religion or narrow ideologies.

rastionalist | 8 years ago | Reply Any 21st century Jinnah's in India will be given a free one-way ticket to Pakistan, the Islamic heaven created for Indian Muslims by their forefather Jinnah of the 20th century.

V. C. Bhutani | 8 years ago | Reply I beg to submit for the information of The Express Tribune and for the edification of The Washington Post that in India there is no room for a Jinnah II. Any such person should expect to be chased from podium to podium until he gives up in complete despair. Instead of appealing to the baser instincts of the Muslims living in adverse conditions, he should point out and highlight in a practical way what can be done to ameliorate the condition of Indian Muslims. He should remember, however, that instead of a British Government, we now have governments which are nationalist at the very least while the present central government is unabashedly ultra-nationalistic. An attempt to follow in the footsteps of MA Jinnah shall be met with utter derision and disdain. Muslim leaders and Muslim people in India should realize that government, like all human undertakings, is apt to make mistakes, but that does not give licence to anyone to start parading something like Two Nation Theory 2.0. No one will tolerate a proceeding of that kind. Such an attempt if made shall be foredoomed to failure in the short run and long-term suffering for the Muslim masses, who deserve as well as other communities in India. 60,000 people may turn out to hear Owaisi but that does not mean he can give jobs to 60,000 youth. He should give attention to his followers’ problems and try to resolve those problems. V. C. Bhutani, Delhi, 19 Aug 2015, 0942 IST

Pakistani | 8 years ago | Reply Don't compare anyone with Jinnah THE GREAT

globalobserver | 8 years ago | Reply @Aysha M: "may Allah save muslims of India this time around ameen" Since you are so full of compassion for Indian Muslims, there is no need to wait for Allah to save them. All you have to do is to ask your Pakistani government to open Pakistan's doors to allow any and all Indian Muslims who feel oppressed to become Pakistani citizen. After all, Pakistan was created for all of India's Muslims. Having said that, can you explain why is it that Pakistani and Bangladeshi Muslims illegally move to India by the hundreds of thousands every year while not even a single "oppressed" Indian Muslim is asking for asylum in Pakistan?

raw is war | 8 years ago | Reply “Every community in India has progressed except Muslims.” does not speak well of the community. If all communities are doing good, then why not Muslims? are they waiting for things to become much worse? They never believe in honesty and hard work. They expect somebody will come and do good to them.

Bna | 8 years ago | Reply @Apr. you cannot decide anything about Asadudin without his consent, so hold your horses.

ask | 8 years ago | Reply Web Desk at ET has unwittingly slurred Jinnah's stature and Owaisi's Indianness by comparing the two.

Mizmar | 8 years ago | Reply @jayant we don't believe in being reborn . You can enjoy that privilege.

Bharatiya Oz | 8 years ago | Reply Every politician has the right to forward their progressive and developmental agendas for communities they represent...But moment these agendas are inter twined with Religion, specially the smart educated Indian Muslims will reject it.. On a side note, Mr. Owaisi is already witnessing the plight of today's Pakistan with sectarian violence within Muslims at peak...If this is not his vision for his community, then he will continue pressing the government of India to focus on more education, more jobs, more houses, more clean water, more toilets, more healthcare facilities, more doctors, more engineers, more Abdul Kalams' from and for communities he represent. And if he ever has a VISION to become Prime Minister of Bharat, then he knows his current strategy of playing on sectarian vote bank won't help!!!

PAkistani | 8 years ago | Reply ......and?

vinsin | 8 years ago | Reply Ambedkar prediction has come too. In a decade I feel that he will be able to get all Muslims to vote for his party and will put the same demand again reservation or partition. Just like Jinnah he will blame non-muslims for that. Just before 2014 election his party ideology was Islamic (making India into an Islamic State) but nowadays it is Islamic and Nationalism and against secularism. He is taking India towards a civil war.

Apr | 8 years ago | Reply Sure Jinna went to Pakistan and so the Asasuddin? India is for Indians not Muslims? Pakistan has become two countries since freedom and can be three if Asasuddin go there and help migrated Muslims during partition.

MAK | 8 years ago | Reply I dont see a bright future for muslims in india - the ones who stayed behind the full implications of their decisions - and i am talking about the ashrafiya/middle-class that chose to stay put. The poor will be poor no matter if it on this side or that side. Actually they have zero hope on that side and i wish them the best.

SB | 8 years ago | Reply Owaisi is not a communal guy, but he is a politician after all. I am sure, like Mr Jinnah, he will soon change the argument from "Muslims in danger" to "Islam in danger". It's all about capturing vote bank. :)

Somebody | 8 years ago | Reply India's problem, not ours.

The Book Says | 8 years ago | Reply @Khan: Sure, as you were with the Bangladeshis and the stranded Biharis. I pity nations which have people like you, who only look at things through Islamic goggles.

jayant | 8 years ago | Reply @Baloch: yes kid , relax i can understand the frustration especially begin a Balouch in punajbi Pakistani. Democracy allows a minority to talk n take a stand. can balouch do that ? without going missing ! dont worry he can have his chicken in peace, no political assassination here .its not Karachi @) Pakistan must be hey look another Jinnah, see we are such a great quam. our leaders our reborn.

c sekhar | 8 years ago | Reply Are Hindus treated equal in any muslim country. NO, they are second hand citizens discriminated against. Indian Muslims are far better off than Hindus anywhere in a muslim country.

Zeeshan | 8 years ago | Reply Owaisi is not trying to become another JINNAH(R.A) ,He is juxt trying to help Hindu Community to show the actual face of your Sourrondings..If you try to enforce the hindu laws on muslims by hook and croock then there will be another Pakistan born from the exixting india...U Indian hindu should realized that Muslims are the reality And they are as indian nationals as any one other,

The Dude | 8 years ago | Reply The difference is during Jinnah 1's time, Indian Muslims were completely gullible and unedcuated so that his strategy paid off. Things have changed a lot and even Muslims are well educated and are able to think for themselves before submitting to dudes like this. Furthermore, the world is still paying the price of one Jinnah and another one would be an apocalypse.

Another Indian | 8 years ago | Reply Another dude trying to capitalize religion. We will see where it goes...

Manish Rastogi | 8 years ago | Reply I do not understand the intention of this author. As supporter of Owaisi young immature muslims are quoted. And the people from RSS are quoted as his critic to show your 'balanced' approach. He is neither good for India nor for muslims. He belongs to the same category which Bal Thackery & RSS belong. He also want to win political point at the cost of Indian secular fabric.

someone | 8 years ago | Reply I don't think it is fair to compare him to Jinnah. This guy does not drink, does not smoke, does not eat pork, does not have British citizenship and on top, no grand illusions of an utopia.

3rdRockFromTheSun | 8 years ago | Reply Comparing Owaisi to Jinnah must mean you have a really low opinion of Jinnah! This man is nothing more than a rabble rouser, given to making 'inflammatory' statements. And a hypocrite too - he himself studied at Oxford, but yet maintains that Indian Muslims should send their kids to madrassas, not proper schools!

someone | 8 years ago | Reply @Aysha M: Allah already saved them in 1947 by keeping them in India. By the way, what ever is happening to Muslims all across the world is Allah's will. Nothing happens without Allah's will.

Bewildered | 8 years ago | Reply Ram Madhav, general secretary of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. “His politics [are] dangerous for India because it deepens the sense of alienation and separateness among Muslims.” What a comedy!

Doesn't matter | 8 years ago | Reply Vanish all the differences we are one only the same humans, Even the animals might be laughing on us. Even tho they are different in colour, figure and facts.. What has happened to us so called human, there should be no discrimination on caste, sex, religion. All human from different caste religion wear the same clothes, eat the same food. And so all top policy and rule maker be active while making it for all not for the 'one,'

Khurram | 8 years ago | Reply I sincerely wish we had one Asaduddin Owaisi in Pakistan too to show mirror to our leadership. We must not gloat over his stance of pointing out the faults of his government that is what every citizen ought to do. Our governance and the quality of leadership is much worse than that of India and Bangladesh, but we have been taking it lying down rather than stand up and hold the whole Establishment squarely responsible for the mess we are in.

Anjaan | 8 years ago | Reply India is not a British colony in the 21st century, most Muslims in India recognize that ... therefore there will not be another Jinnah in India ... !! ... the likes of the Owaisi guy will never get popular support of the patriotic mainstream Indian Muslims ... will eventually be marginalized and neutralized ... !!

Aysha M | 8 years ago | Reply may Allah save muslims of India this time around ameen

Fawad | 8 years ago | Reply I think he is doing good, for citizens of India by pointing wrongs in society, improving by correction, that is how society improves. But I hope he doesn't go overboard. India is doing great, improve India, for everyone, not just one community.

Khan | 8 years ago | Reply May Allah Bless you for raising voice. We Pakistani's are with you in your struggle.

Baloch | 8 years ago | Reply Mr.Owaisi: "We have rejected the two nation theory 60 years back to be part of INDIA", well i'm sorry Mr.Owaisi if you have done a little effort that time, you would not have to suffer for 60 years, now go eat chicken.

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Is India ready for a '21st Century Jinnah'?

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