Shyam Khosla
Islamists’ aggression poses a grave threat to social harmony, peace
Akbaruddin Owaisi, floor leader of rabidly communal MIM in the Andhra Assembly, wanted in several cases for his inflammatory anti-Hindu hate speeches, has been treated with kid-gloves by the Congress. After returning from London where he went under the garb of medical treatment to avoid arrest in the criminal case, the Islamist rabble rouser ignored the police summons and refused to appear before it on the pretext of ill-health.
The police was prevented from entering his Banjara Hill house by a hysterical Islamist mob. He was again asked to come to the police station for questioning but he refused to oblige. Ultimately, he was taken to a Government hospital for medical examination by a team of doctors that showed he was fit to be questioned. Ultimately, he was taken into custody under strong pressure from Hindu nationalist parties and groups that had been agitating for his arrest. Owaisi avoided the law to emerge as a “hero” among the jihadist crowd. He had reasons to believe that he had Congress party’s protection. For long, MIM was part of the Congress alliance and the ruling party never took adverse notice of hate speeches by Owaisi brothers – the elder brother is MP from Hyderabad and equally rabid. MIM left the alliance recently but the Congress party has not given up hope of winning it back to UPA. In the last assembly elections, the Congress didn’t put up candidates against MIM in Hyderabad,
Media reports about consultations held prior to Owaisi’s arrest are revealing and disturbing. Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy took Sonia Gandhi’s permission to apprehend the accused and then went to Raj Bhawan to consult Governor ESL Narasimhan. Only then was the DGP directed to go ahead. Sonia Gandhi, it is believed, was initially reluctant to grant permission to apprehend the hate monger but eventually gave her consent when informed that any further leniency towards MIM leader might generate a Hindu back lash. Akbarbuddin has been charged for waging war against the state and promoting enmity between religious groups for his December 22 hate speech in Adilabad district of Andhra. Muslim mobs rose in support of the hate monger and indulged in violence and attacked public property in Hyderabad. Although charges against the accused are grave, it wouldn’t be surprising if he is bailed out soon given the ruling party’s soft corner for MIM. Congress party’s soft-paddling the crimes committed by Owaisi may lead to his emergence as yet another Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale who was a law unto himself. In the case of Bhindrawale, the police was restrained by the Congress Government to enter golden temple complex to apprehend him, the Andhra police couldn’t enter a private house to arrest a man wanted in serious crimes – making inflammatory hate speeches and spreading venom against Hindus. Andhra Government has set a dangerous precedent by allowing the worst kind of communalist with a criminal mindset – he is an accused in a murder case – to get away with his hate campaign for too long. It is a dangerous trend for which the country will have to pay a heavy price in terms of communal tensions and worse.
It is beneath one’s dignity to report Owaisi’s obnoxious and provocative remarks against Hindus and their deities. His speeches violate all norms of decency and decorum. To mention only a few of his fire-eating lectures to arouse passions among militant Islamists include his threats of civil war if perceived Muslim grievances were not addressed, defending infiltration from Bangladesh and praising foreign invaders who indulged in loot and plunder of our motherland. Media reports say in one of his vicious speech Akbaruddin said, “Oh Hindustan, We are 25 crores, you are 100 crores. Remove the police for 15 minutes and we will show you who has more courage and strength. Today, I have this mike in front of me. If tomorrow I hold something else, then there will be so much bloodshed in this country which this country had not seen in the last 1000 years”. He has neither denied nor apologised for his utterances that have deeply hurt the sentiments of the all civilised citizens. His aim obviously is to create communal tensions and discord in the society. His outpour of venom is reminiscent of pre-Partition speeches by Jinnah, Suhrawady and other Muslim League leaders that incited Muslim mobs to launch a “direct action” against Hindus in 1946. The “Direct Action” led to butchering of 5000 Hindus in Kolkotta, rape of countless Hindu women and forcible conversions. Let no one forget that MIM is an reincarnation of its parent body headed by pro-Pakistan Qasim Rizavi who organised a force of around 1.5 lakh armed Razakars that perpetrated inhuman atrocities on Hindus of Hyderabad then ruled by Nizam. He resisted Hyderabad State’s accession to India. Keeping in view the past record of the militant Islamists who run this organisation, the Election Commission needs to take notice of its present activities and de-recognise the party that is openly anti-national and has no faith in the rule of law.
Mob violence by Islamists, including attacks on the police, in different parts of the country can’t be dismissed as stray local incidents. These are signs of growing Muslim aggression to terrorise the nation and show its muscle and vote power. Radicals have shown that when it comes to Muslims, community prevails over geography and that national boundaries are meaningless. Islamist aggression has struck a blow to communal harmony and emotional integration of India. Islamist and jihadists must be gloating over the helplessness of the Government and the Congress party that is fearful that firm action against the instigators of violence could have dire electoral consequences. Pseudo-secularists in politics and media must take part of the blame for the worsening communal situation. Shivanand Tewari of JD (U) had the audacity to draw parallels between rabid Jehadists and icons of Hindu nationalism. His own party has disowned nonsense uttered by him. He is a counter-part of Congress party’s Digvijay Singh. Both of them are more concerned for Muslim votes than national interests and social harmony. Hindu nationalists shouldn’t forgive them for their crimes against the nation. They must be punished by the voters, if and when they dare to join the electoral battle.
