I have been reacting, writing, and thinking of the AIMIM and its parallels to the MQM and other similar parties for a while. For the AIMIM is not a new party. It’s been around more or less since the beginning of India’s republic. And especially since the Bihar elections earlier this month (November 2020), the party and its current (third generation) leader have been front and center in the post mortem. I have been posting Facebook statuses and short blog posts. And I have found that Shivam Vij is one voice that captures the significance and meaning of Asaduddin Owaisi and the AIMIM. In his latest piece he puts together why and what AIMIM and Owaisi mean for the Indian republic right now, being the only real vehicle for the aspiration of about 15% of India’s population. And, by extension, what the MQM meant for us back in the 80s and, if you are willing to really think, what the lack of meaningful representation for a city that is 15% of Pakistan’s population means:
“If anyone needs Owaisi, it is the Indian Muslim. The Indian Muslims who are being deprived of a voice in public discourse because the ‘secular’ parties who claim to uphold their interests have also gone silent. In fact, they’re going beyond silence to active collaboration with Hindu fundamentalism, if you see the recent actions of Priyanka Gandhi, Kamal Nath, and Arvind Kejriwal.
At such a time, Owaisi is a force for good in Indian politics. He’s not going to become chief minister or prime minister and he knows it. What he will achieve is the creation of some competition for Muslim votes, which will force the ‘secular’ parties to acknowledge that, yes, India has Muslims and they must be treated with the same dignity by all political parties as any other voter.
…
If anything, Owaisi’s nuanced assertion of constitutional nationalism comes in the way of the BJP leaders and supporters’ efforts to portray the Muslim as the Hindu-hating, Pakistan-loving, cow-slaughtering devil.”
Background, previous posts and links:
- Shivam’s piece: https://theprint.in/opinion/bjp-does-not-want-owaisi-the-bjp-does-not-need-owaisi/548615/
- Shehkar Gupta’s video piece in The Print: https://youtu.be/V-3cl0_QZK8
- Shivam’s previous op-ed for The Gulf News: https://gulfnews.com/opinion/op-eds/the-message-from-bihar-indian-muslims-want-secular-parties-to-stop-pretending-they-dont-exist-1.75224360
- My previous post: https://link.medium.com/v3wNTTp5Dbb
- Blog post from 2007: http://blog.ifaqeer.com/2007/05/b-raman-hyderabad-and-bushra-zaidi.html
- Quote from another Muslim student leader from AMU (and later Janata Dal): https://www.facebook.com/17507004/posts/10101354558650576/
- Poetic comment on the state of Indian Muslims: https://www.facebook.com/17507004/posts/10101354043572796/
