The young Owaisi, who wanted to be a lawyer, had to submit his nomination papers to challenge the Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections in 1994.
It was the year 1994. Two years after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, there were riots across India at Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM), a party established by Abdul Wahed Owaisi. Members were defecting from AIMIM for not being vocal enough about demolishing the mosque and there was an outcry that educated Muslims were not going to join in politics.
All eyes were on Asaddudin Owaisi, 25, Abdul Wahed’s grandson, who had just returned from London after completing a law degree. “If you had told me in the early 1990s that I would run for election, I would have told you that you had lost your mind,” Mr. Owaisi said later. It was a time when I worked in a jean shop on Oxford Street, London. and served meals at McDonald’s to cover the cost of tuition.
The young Owaisi, who wanted to be a lawyer, had to present his nomination papers to contest the Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections in 1994.
Almost a lifetime since then, he had been elected MLA twice and MP for Hyderabad four times, a seat his father, Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi, represented six times. It has reformulated the archetype of Muslim leadership. Do you regret giving up the law to be a legislator? “Regret …? I don’t know … It’s a very subjective thing. I don’t regret things in life, look on the bright side and move on,” said Owaisi.
Renaissance of the party
AIMIM is the reincarnation of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen who opposed the accession of Hyderabad to the Indian union. Once the state of Hyderabad was integrated into India, the party was banned and fell into chaos, many of its leaders emigrating to Pakistan. Putting “All India” before the MIM, Mr. Owai’s grandfather resurrected the party. Mr. Owaisi often recalls that AIMIM is a party of those who did not go to Pakistan.
Years later, the same reason that led to Owai’s entry into politics is also a reason for the expansion of his party. Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), who were wary of engaging with Seemanchal voters on the issue of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Citizen Registry (NRC), left a void that entered Mr. Owaisi, winning five seats in the Bihar Assembly elections.
In his speeches in Seemanchal, he repeatedly claimed that he was the only one to tear out a copy of the “unconstitutional” CAA within Parliament. He spoke of the “betrayal” of the RJD and Congress. He delivers his speech in Chaste Urdu, a language not exactly foreign to his Bihari audience, but definitely not conversational. His speeches were peppered with invocations of ‘Allah’. The Muslim identity is firmly in place, with a long sherwani, a hat and a beard without a mustache. The speech was delivered at a pace and tone, similar to Friday sermons by the clergy.
Broader alliance
However, Mr. Owaisi insists that he is not a “Muslim leader”. In a recent interview with The Hindu, he said: “We are not an exclusive Muslim party. I, Asaddudin Owaisi, am not a Muslim leader. I don’t want to be a Muslim leader, that is not my ambition or the goal of my political journey. AIMIM has been working to forge an alliance between Muslims, Dalits and other backward groups.
Nor does he want his politics to be limited to Hyderabad. AIMIM expanded into Maharashtra in 2012, winning in the Nanded Municipal Corporation elections. The party’s success earned him the nickname of being a “BJP agent,” a big step from supporting the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance during the 2018 no-confidence vote. Owaisi’s persistent indictment of major parties for Giving the “Muslim vote” granted, along with the other parties’ attempt to appear much more Hindu, has had political dividends for AIMIM.
“You can call me all you want. It is like water from the back of the duck. During my childhood, RSS workers used to come to our house often, abuse us in an attempt to intimidate me. So it’s part of my growing years, ”he said.
Years ago, Owaisi may have joined politics without enthusiasm. But on November 10, when Bihar’s results came in, his 10-year-old son, dressed in a similar long sherwani, sat in a chair next to him when he gave his victory press conference. “He’s a boy. He wanted to sit with me, so how could I deny it?” Owaisi said.
He claims that he was always an average student. He tries to read, but says he is a very slow reader and takes a lot of preparation before speaking in Parliament. Despite Hyderabad being his base, Mr. Owaisi does not speak Telugu. He says he has tried many times to study the language with a tutor who used to come to his home in Hyderabad. But politics always exceeds their plans.
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