Despite dire warnings to the contrary, Hyderabad's Owaisi family continues to command the support of the Old City, writes Naresh Nunna
In the recent Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) polls, voters of the old city reposed faith in the All- India Majlis-e-ittehadul Muslimeen (MiM). Of the 150 municipal divisions, the Congress, despite the YSR sympathy wave, won 52. TDP, at 45, performed surprisingly well. But MiM won 43 divisions, belying projections. It has reached an understanding with the Congress to share the mayoral post in the last two years of the stipulated five-year term. In the previous civic poll held in 2002, of the 100 divisions, MiM had 36 corporators and Congress 21. The TDP had 22 corporators and the BJP 15. This time analysts had predicted an erosion in MiM's old city vote bank.
MiM is synonymous with the Owaisis. When the government of the newly-formed Hyderabad state, after police action in Nizam’s province, wanted to abolish the ‘bankrupt’ Majlis Party Moulana Abdul Wahed Owaisi, father of Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi, took over the reins. He was jailed for ten months. So Salahuddin stepped into politics at an early age. Owaisi emerged as “Salar-e-Millat” (commander of the community). His political ‘mission’ spanned for more than four decades till he passed the mantle to his elder son, Asaduddin Owaisi, in 2004.
Salahuddin was MLA from 1962 to 1984 and also briefly the Speaker of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly. He represented Hyderabad LS constituency for six consecutive terms from 1984 to 2004. Asaduddin, a barrister, was an MLA from the old city for ten years before becoming an MP in 2004. Asad’s younger brother, Akbaruddin Owaisi, is also an MLA for the last 10 years from the Chandrayanagutta constituency of the old city.
During the 1996 general elections, Mohamed Amanullah Khan of the MiM rebelled against Salahuddin, threatening to cut the Owaisis down to size. Khan lost his deposit. Salahuddin defeated senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu by a margin of 74,000 votes. But, post-2004, there was a spurt in criticism of the MiM, owing to its ‘elitism’.
“The Owaisi family, that had an autocratic grip over the MiM and over the flow of power and resources, began to be conceived as leaders of rich Hyderabadi Muslims. The MiM is said to have contributed hugely towards creating a class divide within the Muslims of Old City. Some poor Muslims did not get medical treatment or school admissions in their community institutions because powerful community leaders served the interests of upper class Muslims,” a local CPI(M) leader told TSI, while seeking to explain the reasons for the penetration of the Communists into the lanes and by-lanes of the Old City to serve the poor Muslims, ‘orphaned’ by the MiM.
In the recent Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) polls, voters of the old city reposed faith in the All- India Majlis-e-ittehadul Muslimeen (MiM). Of the 150 municipal divisions, the Congress, despite the YSR sympathy wave, won 52. TDP, at 45, performed surprisingly well. But MiM won 43 divisions, belying projections. It has reached an understanding with the Congress to share the mayoral post in the last two years of the stipulated five-year term. In the previous civic poll held in 2002, of the 100 divisions, MiM had 36 corporators and Congress 21. The TDP had 22 corporators and the BJP 15. This time analysts had predicted an erosion in MiM's old city vote bank.
MiM is synonymous with the Owaisis. When the government of the newly-formed Hyderabad state, after police action in Nizam’s province, wanted to abolish the ‘bankrupt’ Majlis Party Moulana Abdul Wahed Owaisi, father of Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi, took over the reins. He was jailed for ten months. So Salahuddin stepped into politics at an early age. Owaisi emerged as “Salar-e-Millat” (commander of the community). His political ‘mission’ spanned for more than four decades till he passed the mantle to his elder son, Asaduddin Owaisi, in 2004.
Salahuddin was MLA from 1962 to 1984 and also briefly the Speaker of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly. He represented Hyderabad LS constituency for six consecutive terms from 1984 to 2004. Asaduddin, a barrister, was an MLA from the old city for ten years before becoming an MP in 2004. Asad’s younger brother, Akbaruddin Owaisi, is also an MLA for the last 10 years from the Chandrayanagutta constituency of the old city.
During the 1996 general elections, Mohamed Amanullah Khan of the MiM rebelled against Salahuddin, threatening to cut the Owaisis down to size. Khan lost his deposit. Salahuddin defeated senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu by a margin of 74,000 votes. But, post-2004, there was a spurt in criticism of the MiM, owing to its ‘elitism’.
“The Owaisi family, that had an autocratic grip over the MiM and over the flow of power and resources, began to be conceived as leaders of rich Hyderabadi Muslims. The MiM is said to have contributed hugely towards creating a class divide within the Muslims of Old City. Some poor Muslims did not get medical treatment or school admissions in their community institutions because powerful community leaders served the interests of upper class Muslims,” a local CPI(M) leader told TSI, while seeking to explain the reasons for the penetration of the Communists into the lanes and by-lanes of the Old City to serve the poor Muslims, ‘orphaned’ by the MiM.
