— Akbarudin Owaisi-
On December 24, 2012, MIM leader Akbarudin Owaisi addressed a rally in Adilabad district of Andhra Pradesh. In his two-hour long speech, he made multiple comments against Hindus, Hindu deities, RSS, VHP, BJP, Narendra Modi and India. In that speech, Owaisi said the 250 million Indian Muslims needed only 15 minutes without the police to show one billion Hindus who is more powerful. Media reported Owaisi referring to the Hindus as ‘impotent’ and the Indian police as the ‘impotent army’. He said not even one crore impotent men can together father one child. He said these people (Hindus) cannot face the Muslims, and whenever the Muslims start dominating the Hindus, the impotent army (police) intervenes. Owaisi said that “we (Muslims) will not let you (India or Hindus) live peacefully,” and added that the Muslims could “teach the rest of the country a lesson.”
Owaisi referred to Ajmal Kasab, one of the Pakistani terrorists of 2008 Mumbai attacks, as a ‘child’ and compared him with Narendra Modi. He asked if Kasab was hanged then why is Modi not hanged, and said that the reason was only because Kasab was a Pakistani and Modi is Indian. He said that if the Muslims of India united like the Muslims of Andhra Pradesh, Narendra Modi would soon be hanged. Owaisi threatened that if his words were not heard, “O India, destruction and ruin will be your fate”. He threatened that India will witness a bloodshed which has not been seen in the last 1000 years. He also dared Narendra Modi to come to Hyderabad, threatening by saying ‘we will show him then’.
Dr Ravindra Agrawal from Saharanpur
“…Gujarat samajh rakha hai…, 4 per cent Musalman hain vahan; yahan 42 per cent hain,…….yahan Modi ki boti chhoti-chhoti kat denge” (…he thinks it is Gujarat, Muslims are only 4 per cent there; but here we are 42 per cent; here Modi will be chopped into pieces).
This is just one portion of the hate speech delivered by Congress candidate from Saharanpur, Imran Masood recently. Some other portions of his speech, equally provocative and extremely communal in nature, are being displayed in different sections of the media, including social sites and news channels. After this speech, Imran stands fully exposed as a communal Muslim leader.
The unearthing of the video, in which he makes scatting attack on BJP’s Prime Minister candidate Narendra Modi, is tip of the real mentality of some fundamentalists in this region. It gets more serious when one finds that Darul Uloom Deoband, the premier Islamic institution acting as a guiding force behind the Muslims not only in India but also abroad, has not uttered even a single word condemning this speech or the mentality. All factions of the clerics here have gone into silent mode after the episode.
Prior to this episode, Imran Masood was known in the region as a ‘secular leader’ and he enjoyed the support in all communities including the Hindus. Fact is that this video pushes us back into the British era, when Mohammad Ali Jinnah threatened the nation of Direct Action with the backing of the then British government. On March 29, when Deoband’s Judicial Magistrate sent Imran to 14 day judicial custody on the charges of provocative speech, the same day in the evening Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi asked the people of Saharanpur to vote for Imran Masood at a rally organised there.
There are arguments that this and the other videos are about six month old when Imran was in Samajwadi Party. It is understood that when Imran delivered this speech at Talheri Bujurg village near Deoband, the border district Muzaffarnagar was burning in the fire of severest communal riots. It is evident from this video how the leaders of ruling Samajwadi Party were then fueling communal tension in this already tensed area by delivering such hate speeches. Intrestingly, state’s Akhilesh government was then blaming the BJP leaders for the riots and even put some of the leaders behind the bars imposing NSA. It shows that the cases against the BJP leaders were false and the riot instigators were actually the SP leaders.
It is important to mention here that the Congress, which blamed the SP for Muzaffarnagar riots without taking any action from the Centre, borrowed Imran Masood as a candidate from the same SP, created controversy by a hate speech. Not only this, Rahul Gandhi found sufficient time to canvass for him even when he was in judicial custody. Rahul Gandhi, however, said he did not like using such harsh language but he completely remained silent on the divisive and communal mentality of his party candidate.
There are many other questions, which arise from Imran’s hate video surfaced in 2-3 parts. The important question is if any community’s population is 42 per cent in a particular area, can they get the licence to chop others into pieces? In second part of the video Imran was shown saying that Muslims would not act as salve of the upper castes, read Thakurs. The question is whether for petty political gains can one divide the society in the name of religion or castes? Whether defeat in an election can be termed as slavery of the winner (BSP candidate Jagdish Rana had won from this constituency in 2009)? Whether the Congress is again playing divisive politics in the country when it clearly sees a defeat in forthcoming elections?
After this speech Imran Masood may be panelised with more than three years of jail term under Section 153A, 295A, 504, 506, IPC 3(1), 10 SC&ST Act and 125 of Peoples Representation Act 1951, under which he has been sent to judicial custody, now he is clearly a tainted candidate. If he gets jail punishment from a competent court, he will be illegible for contesting election. Rahul Gandhi had last year himself torn away the copy of the Ordinance, which was to be promulgated by UPA-II revoking the check on tainted political leaders. How can Rahul Gandhi now accept the candidate, who is wholly unfit on his own parameters? After the said videos, how the election scenario of Saharanpur changed dramatically can be assessed only by one incident. Sanjay Garg, presently a BSP leader with a strong Congress background, had, prior to this video episode, announced willingness to join Congress on March 29 rally. But after this viscous episode, he refused to join the Congress and is not ready to accept Imran’s leadership.
Who will politically gain or lose after this episode will be determined only by the election results. But one thing is clear that, in the words of a local senior journalist who does not want to be named, ‘in the struggle of capturing local Muslim leadership, Imran has defeated his uncle and
political guru Rashid Masood who is now in jail for his involvement in Medical College Admission scam.
The Congress seems to be supporting Imran even after this episode
because it feels that it has found the substitute of SP leader Azam Khan in Western UP.
One more fact which needs introspection by all countrymen is that Jinnah was patronised by the then rulers, the Britishers, and now this mentality is being patronised by the present rulers, the Congress. What does the Congress want in the country—another Partition or more communal riots by patronising such elements?
(The writer is a senior Journalist and was in Saharanpur when this hate speech surfaced and Congress vice president addressed a rally in support of Imran Masood)
