Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi tells ThePrint it’s important to assert one’s religion and culture in face of growing intolerance.
New Delhi: If a non-believing Muslim like actor Naseeruddin Shah does not feel safe in India, what will happen to a believing and practicing Muslim like myself, asked Asaduddin Owaisi, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president.
Speaking to ThePrint Thursday about the current status of Muslims in India, Owaisi, who is also the Hyderabad MP, weighed in on the controversy triggered by the veteran actor’s recent comments on intolerance.
“Here you have a person who openly says that he does not practice Islam, who openly accepts his wife is not a Muslim, who openly accepts that he has not taught his wife anything about Islam…Now, if he is not being accepted, what will happen to Assaduddin Owaisi then?” asked the AIMIM chief.
Shah stirred up a controversy in December last year when he said he was anxious about the well-being of his children, who he said have not been brought up as followers of any one religion.
The actor was criticised by some who believed that by underscoring the fact that he is a non-believer, he was alienating crores of practicing Muslims in India.
Owaisi said he doesn’t believe that there is a tendency among elite Muslims to distance themselves from Islam while talking about intolerance, but added that it is important to assert one’s religion and culture in the face of growing intolerance towards minorities in the country.
Also read: Naseeruddin Shah spoke up for Muslims, but dangerously alienated most of them
‘Glass houses’
Owaisi also responded to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s 22 December comments about Muslims not being treated as equal citizens in India.
The AIMIM chief said that it is not proper for Khan to tell an Indian Muslim how their country should treat them.
“I don’t want any foreigner to be sitting outside and sermonising me,” Owaisi said, adding that India has its problems, and Indians will deal with them on their own.
“Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones at others,” he said. “Pakistan constitution does not allow non-Muslim to become the president of the country, so why is he pointing fingers at me?”
Pakistanis need to understand Indian Muslims have taken the decision to stay in India and they will continue to solve their country’s problems within the country, he added.
On lynchings
In view of the growing number of lynching incidents in the country, Owaisi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of justifying acts of violence in his interview to news agency ANI by saying that while he condemned lynchings, “people’s sentiments should be respected”.
“What sentiments is he talking about? How can the prime minister make this statement?” asked Owaisi.
“He should be condemning such incidents outrightly… Is he trying to justify what happened to Akhlaq?” said Owaisi, referring to the 2015 Dadri lynching case in which Mohammad Akhlaq was murdered on the allegation that beef had been found in his house.
He said that Modi’s response should have been that “sentiment or no sentiment, one cannot indulge in violence”.
Ram temple
At a time when the Supreme Court is set to begin its hearings on the issue of the Ram temple again, Owaisi said the demolition of the Babri Masjid was a “wanton criminal act”, and Muslims still believe that building a mosque in the disputed territory is a question of justice, and not faith.
“This is not a matter of faith… We firmly believe that this is a matter of justice,” he said.
Asking for justice does not make him a fundamentalist, he added.
Arguing that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) cannot legally bring in an ordinance on the issue, Owaisi said that for the constitutional measure, it is necessary to prove the urgency of a situation, which the government cannot do in this case.
Owaisi also criticised the prime minister and the BJP-led government for its doublespeak on the issues of triple talaq and Sabarimala.
“Their faith is faith, and my faith is not faith?” Owaisi asked.
Also read: Not Hindu-Muslim, this issue can become the polarising factor in 2019 elections
Alliance talk
Dismissing any possibility of an alliance with the Congress for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Owaisi said he has not been approached by the Congress, and neither does he want to be.
After the Congress launched a scathing attack against his party for being a “B team” of the BJP, Owaisi said he does not envision an alliance with it at all.
In India, the electorate does not have to choose only between the BJP and the Congress, he said, adding that “when you talk about diversity, there has to be political diversity as well”.