Asaduddin Owaisi Has To Disown AIMIM’s Past For A Secular And Inclusive India And Pan-Indian Expansion
By Faisal C.K.
18 November
2020
The
spectacular feat of Asaduddin Owaisi and his All India
Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) in the Bihar election has recently
created a ripple effect in Indian politics. Owaisi is all set to emerge as a
pan-Indian face of Muslim politics. Owaisi desperately opposes the majoritarian
communalism on behalf of the minorities in the present-day India.
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi.
Photo: asadowaisi/Twitter
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But his
party, which was initially called the Majlis-e-Ittehad ul Muslimeen, was an
exponent of the same predatory communalism in the Nizam’s Hyderabad that was a
paradise of feudalism and patrimonialism. The present party has never denounced
its pre-annexation avatar. The official website of the AIMIM calls Bahadur Yar
Jang, the leader who spearheaded the MIM in the Nizam era, as the party’s
tallest leader.
Nawab
Bahadur Yar Jang, a powerful religious preacher, played a pivotal role in the
formation of the Majlis-e-Ittehad ul Muslimeen. In 1938, he was elected the
president of Majlis-e-Ittehad ul Muslimeen, a position in which he served till
his death in 1944. He openly declared, “Asaf Jahi flag is not a personal flag
of [the] Asaf Jahi dynasty; but an Islamic flag and a symbol of a great Islamic
state. If it was considered as a personal flag, a Muslim would not lay down his
life for it.”
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Margrit
Pernau says in her The Passing of Patrimonialism: Politics and Political
Culture in Hyderabad 1911-1948 (2000) that “at the turn of the year 1940-41,
Bahadur Yar Jang began to have a short statement of faith (Kalima) recited at
all the meetings of the Ittehad”. It went: “We are the king of the Dekkan. H.E.H’s
throne and crown are the symbols of our political and cultural domination.
H.E.H. is the soul of our kingship, and we are the body of his kingship. If he
were no more, we would cease to exist, and if we were no more, he would cease
to be.”
Thus,
Bahadur Yar Jang identified the Nizam’s autocracy with Muslim supremacism in
Hyderabad. Formed in 1926, the MIM had a four-fold objective: maintain
Hyderabad as an independent Islamic monarchy under the Asaf Jahi dynasty,
perpetuate Muslim dominance in the bureaucracy, keep Urdu as the official
language and prevent the formation of a popular, responsible government. In the
Nizam’s dominion, 50% of the population spoke Telugu, 25% Marathi, 11% Kannada
and merely 1.2% spoke Urdu. Muslims constituted less than 15% of the population
but held 75% of positions in the bureaucracy. Bahadur Yar Jung founded the
Majlis Tabligh-e-Islam in 1927 to increase the Muslim population in Hyderabad
through religious conversion.
Razakar units being trained.
Photo: Unknown author, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
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The MIM
opposed secular and progressive movements like the Andhra Mahasabha and the
Nizam’s Subjects League and the Hyderabad State Congress. The Andhra Mahasabha
spearheaded people’s movements among the Telugu-speaking populace of the state.
The Nizam’s
Subjects League was formed in 1933 due to the continued domination of
“non-Mulkis” in the government (Mulki is a term used to refer to local-born
Hindus or Muslims). The league came to be known as the Mulki League and was
among the first to promote the idea of a responsible government in Hyderabad.
The
appointment of Moin Nawaz Jang, the conscience-keeper of the MIM, as the
secretary to the Nizam’s Executive Council in 1937 demonstrated the grip of the
MIM over the Nizam’s government.
Clearly Stood For Muslim Supremacy
The MIM
amended its constitution in 1938. As K.M. Munshi notes in his book End of An
Era: Hyderabad Memoirs, the amended constitution said, “The position of the
Muslims of the Asafia state is that the person and the throne of the king of
the country are emanations of the political sovereignty and social supremacy of
the community [Muslims] and shall be maintained for ever.”
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Also Read: Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM
Plays Spoilsport By Making A Dent Into Muslim Votes In Bihar Elections
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Thus the
MIM clearly stood for Muslim supremacy and communal hegemony. The
Constitutional Reforms Commission headed by Arvamudu Aiyengar recommended the
formation of an elected legislature in Hyderabad in 1938. The Commission
recommended equal representation to the Muslims and Hindus in the legislature.
The MIM opposed the proposal and demanded that Hyderabad should be declared as
an Islamic state. Supporting Bahadur Yar Jang, Mohammad Ali Jinnah proposed
that the Hindu community in Hyderabad that constituted 86% of the population
should be notified as ‘statutory minority’! The MIM had strong ties with the
All India Muslim League. When the All India States Muslim League was formed in
1939, Bahadur Yar Jung was made its president.
The ‘Vande
Mataram’ movement was the most significant movement in the history of
Hyderabad’s freedom struggle. The Nizam’s government forbade the singing of
‘Vande Matram’ all over the state, including in educational institutions and
hostels. It became a symbol of nationalist agitation. The MIM supported the
Nizam’s adamant action against this movement.
Mir Laiq
Ali, the last prime minister of the Hyderabad state, was a strong supporter of
the MIM and its financial source. When the Nizam was urged to integrate with
the Indian Union after the independence, as the Ali boasted that if “the Indian
government takes any action against Hyderabad, 100,000 men are ready to fight.
We also have a hundred bombers in Saudi Arabia ready to bomb Bombay!”
Syed Qasim Razvi. Photo:
Unknow author, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
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Meanwhile,
the militant Razakars led by Syed Qasim Razvi, who became the Majlis-e-Ittehadul
Muslimeen’s president in December 1946, stepped up their campaign of
terrorising Hindus and whipping up religious sentiments among the Muslims. The
MIM supported all these nefarious activities.
Razvi
remained the Majlis-e-Ittehad ul Muslimeen’s president until Hyderabad’s
annexation in 1948. The Razakars, raised by Razvi, were Muslim separatists who
advocated the continuation of Nizam’s rule and tried to convince the Nizam to
accede to Pakistan. After accession to Pakistan proved impossible owing to the
distance of Hyderabad from Pakistan, Razvi encouraged the Nizam to take a
hardline stance and ordered the Razakars to resist the accession of Hyderabad
to the newly formed Government of India. He is quoted to have said, “Death with
the sword in hand, is always preferable to extinction by a mere stroke of the
pen.”
After
Operation Polo, the MIM was banned in 1948. Qasim Razvi was jailed from 1948 to
1957, and was released on the condition that he would go to Pakistan where he
was granted asylum. Before leaving, Razvi handed over the responsibility of the
Ittehad ul Muslimeen, to Abdul Wahid Owaisi, Asaduddin’s grandfather. Abdul
Wahid Owaisi organised it into the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad ul Muslimeen.
These
historical examples show that the MIM practiced predatory communalism under the
Nizam’s regime, the same menace that Asaduddin Owaisi and his party claim to be
desperately trying to quell in today’s India. If he is sincere, he has to
disown his party’s past. Else, history would haunt his party and cripple its
quest for a secular and inclusive India and pan-Indian expansion.
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Faisal C.K. is an independent researcher.
Original Headline: The Albatross Around
Asaduddin Owaisi’s Neck and Why He Should Disown It
Source: The Wire
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-politics/asaduddin-owaisi-disown-aimims-past/d/123505
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