Hyderabad: Indian Muslims are not so ‘gaye guzre’ that they will take away ‘mangalsutras‘ of Hindu sisters, AIMIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi said, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks that if the Congress comes to power, it will redistribute gold, including ‘mangalsutras’, from mothers and daughters among Muslims.
Speaking with ThePrint, Owaisi also rejected the working paper of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM), raising questions about the author and saying the paper deliberately left out data and was published ahead of the elections to back Modi’s recent attacks on Muslims.
Citing the 2019-21 National Family Health Survey data, which shows that the total fertility rate in the Muslim community has fallen, Owaisi said, “The whole idea is to send out a message to the Hindu community, ‘Look how the Muslim population has jumped’. But the Hindu population has also increased. (The intention is to show) that Muslims will overtake Hindus in population, fear-mongering, and creating this suspicion that Muslims will occupy everything.”
The EAC-PM paper interpreted the 2017 Religious Characteristics of States Dataset (RCS-Dem) derived from the 2011 Census data, showing the Hindus’ share in India’s population fell by 6.62 percentage points between 1950 and 2015 while the share of all religious minorities, except Parsis and Jains, increased, with the Muslims’ share rising by 4.25 percentage points.
“In India, the share of the majority Hindu population decreased by 7.82 percent between 1950 and 2015 (from 84.68 percent to 78.06 percent). The share of Muslim population in 1950 was 9.84 percent and increased to 14.09 percent in 2015 — a 43.15 percent increase in their share,” said the paper in its interpretation. If the methodology used by the paper is applied on populations with smaller shares, they are shown to throw up higher absolute values. For instance, the share of Buddhists, who make up only 0.81 percent of the population, increased the most from 1950-2015 by nearly 1,520 percent.
“Since Narendra Modi’s speech, ye bachche bahut paida karte hain’, our political antenna went up; we knew something was brewing. And I started speaking on this, giving out data… Why don’t you say that Narendra Modi has five brothers, Amit Shah has six sisters?” asked the AIMIM chief.
Pointing out the contradiction in Modi and Amit Shah apologising over Union Minister of State Parshottam Rupala’s comments on the Rajputs and the Prime Minister using terms like ‘ghuspaithia (infiltrators)’, jihadi and implying Muslim women give birth to more children and no one protesting that, Owaisi said the Muslims “should learn from how the Rajput community has reacted from Gujarat to Rajasthan to Uttar Pradesh”.
Asked about BJP leaders attacking the Opposition parties claiming that Pakistan supports them, Owaisi said, “In their excitement and hatred for the Muslim community, they are drawing comparisons with Pakistan… Why do you equate India with Pakistan? Why don’t you equate India with China, the US, you know, Germany?… In your hatred for Muslims, at least, don’t demean the country,” he said.
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‘Muslims are band baje wale‘
Owaisi also blamed the condition of Muslims on “so-called secular parties”, saying they treat Muslims as “band baje wale”, who are left out of the marriage hall when the bridegroom goes inside.
“In Maharashtra, on 48 Lok Sabha seats, no Muslim candidate has been fielded (by the INDIA alliance). From Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, and Delhi, there are 11-12 states where the INDIA alliance has not fielded a Muslim candidate. Modi is clear in his guarantee that he will marginalise, or invisibilise the Muslim community from Indian politics, which he has done. But, how do you make an inclusive India if you do not even give tickets to Muslims?” he asked.
“So, what is there for the Muslim community? We want to save the Constitution. We want to get rid of this right-wing Hindutva government, which has hurt the Muslims more. Whose houses got demolished? Who has been mob lynched in the name of meat? Who has been killed in encounters or injured in encounters? And whose dignity is at stake?” the AIMIM chief asked, expressing his concern over the exclusion of Muslims from the political sphere.
Asked why the Muslim community remained largely silent when the Supreme Court verdict announced its verdict on the Ram Mandir or when the government notified the CAA rules, Owaisi said, “There is a saying in Urdu — ‘iss sannate ki bhi awaaz hai, jo sunai nahi de rahi hai logon ko, lekin sunai degi. Abhi sannata nazar aa raha hai, lekin iss sannate ki bhi awaaz hai (The silence has a voice, which people can’t hear now, but will in the future. Now, you can see the silence, but this silence has a voice)’.”
“This silence is a momentary silence. What shape it takes… I hope it takes a democratic shape; this is what I am trying to do. But, you cannot keep suppressing a community under various ways and methods. It will not work,” he said, adding that there was a possibility that people would become more aware or more political leaders would say enough is enough.
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‘It’s you are with us or them’
On Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi calling him the BJP’s B-team, Owaisi said, “Priyanka Gandhi does politics of entitlement… Why did my party support your party when there was a division in your party in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh during a no-confidence motion? Because your MLAs of Telangana were siding with KCR. Andhra MLAs were siding with Jagan Mohan Reddy. And then, to call me this, this is pure arrogance.”
“It’s like a George Bush theory. You are with us or with them. So, where is inclusive India?… This is what we are fighting, this mindset… We are not your loyal subjects. This is a democracy. Feudalism has no place in India,” he added.
Owaisi also talked about the killing of Uttar Pradesh gangster Atiq Ahmed last April in the presence of police.
“Don’t gangsters have the right to life, a fundamental right? And how do other gangsters who do not happen to be Muslim have a right to life? There are gangsters patronised by the BJP also; I don’t do that… In Bihar, a dreaded gangster gets married inside the prison and gets his wife a ticket,” he said, referring to Anita Kumari Mahto, who married gangster Ashok Mahto in prison and is fighting on a Rashtriya Janata Dal ticket from Bihar’s Munger.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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