The former places the traditionally exploited, marginalised and unprivileged sections of the society on a platform from where they can bargain hard for what is their due in a competitive democracy. At the core of it are positive superior values – justice, fairness and equality. The core of the politics of religion is composed of raw emotions – anger, hate and malice. It is destructive, because it is intrinsically devoid of any idea of construction.
Mature people and mature societies learn to grow beyond religious identities and grievances, and focus on the aspirational and the productive. There are indications that India has matured over the last one decade. Inter-religious tension has been substantially low, communal hate-mongering has reduced and people are hitting the streets with demands that are completely secular. Political leaders are sensing the mood and even the most communal among them are busy recasting their image to fit in.
However, some leaders don’t get the message that people have moved on.
If Akbaruddin Owaisi, leader of the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), thought he has impressed the members of his community with his Adilabad hate speech, he should read the sense of disgust in the members of his own community who have been speaking to the media in Hyderabad and elsewhere. Yes, he received applause from the large gathering while making the speech, but let’s not read too much into that. People always appreciate a good performance. They don’t bother so much about the content.
Speeches like these are designed to stoke communal violence. That no communal violence has been reported from Andhra Pradesh after the event is proof that people have learnt to be indifferent to what people like Akbaruddin dish out.
It’s also heartening that the speech achieved little beyond generating a lot of curiosity in the media, particularly the online media. If he expected a polarising effect from his drama, there was not any. Why is this guy talking rubbish? How can he get away with such a speech? Who’s this character? – these were the dominant reactions. Of course, we had the routine government bashing riding on it. The reactive anger was conspicuous by its lack of intensity.
Did the police slip up in Owaisi case?
After the uproar in the social and mainstream media over the hate speech delivered by Akbaruddin Owaisi in Adilabad district in Andhra Pradesh on 22 December, the district police have discovered that its sleuths were not sleeping. They had also apparently recorded the entire two-hour long speech by the MLA of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) legislature party. When asked why no one took note of the inflammatory content, each police source had a different version to offer.
One said none of the intelligence officers present at the meeting could follow Akbar’s Urdu. Another said as the speech was delivered in chaste Urdu, it took time to get it translated into Telugu and English before it could be submitted to senior officers.
Yet another said the intelligence cops had submitted a report to the higher-ups but had done a poor job in highlighting the more offensive portions. They had reportedly stressed on the fact that the crowd was very appreciative of Akbar’s oratory and that Owaisi junior had touched upon the demolition of the Babri Masjid in his speech. No one therefore took a second look at a speech that was only talking about a 20-year-old issue.
A fourth version, that looks more closer to the truth is that it was only when the BJP lawyer went to court on 28 December and the issue hit the headlines that the Adilabad police woke up and realised that they had slipped up badly.
So late on the night of 2 January, the Nirmal police in Adilabad filed a case under Section 153A, charging Owaisi with promoting enmity between two religious communities. Neighbouring district Nizamabad, where Akbar had reportedly spoken in a similar vein on 8 December, also filed a case against him yesterday evening. Meanwhile, a city court in Hyderabad on Thursday asked the city police to file a case, based on a complaint by a local.
All this proved that Bollywood was always right. That the police reach only at the end.
Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy has been on silent mode on the hate speech in which there were several barbs directed at him, except to say that law will take its own course. In this case, by taking a 10-day course, the Andhra Pradesh police’s image has taken a beating.
That is a view shared by many senior IPS officers who have worked in communally sensitive hotspots like the Old city of Hyderabad. Privately, they admit that by taking a long time to ensure the law of the land prevails, the police looked as if it was totally unaware of what had happened under its nose. “The police should have taken suo motu action instead of waiting for someone to file a case,” says an officer who has spent many years in the state intelligence department. “By keeping quiet, the police looked as if we were not keen on taking action.”
This is a charge Andhra Pradesh police chief V Dinesh Reddy denies. He says seeking legal opinion on the sensitive speech took time, arguing that the police have to be careful when dealing with a case involving public representatives.
What he leaves unsaid is that the legal opinion was taken only after 28 December. But since a BJP person had gone to court, it meant the police had to be careful that it was not just another case of political tu tu mein mein. It also had to study thoroughly the legal provisions under which Owaisi could be booked, lest it fall between two stools.
“The interpretation is very important in such cases. Whether the speech’s contents could lead to people getting instigated to indulge in violence,” explains MV Bhaskara Rao, former Director General of Andhra Pradesh police. “The police has to check every controversial sentence and examine if it is not transgressing on the individual’s freedom of speech. The malafide intention has to be established.”
But to reduce this case to just another police FIR, would be to ignore the significance of the umbilical cord that stays intact between different political outfits. The MIM was a Congress ally until November, and even though the Owaisis snapped ties with the party, Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi has several powerful friends in the ruling party in Delhi on speed dial. In recent months, Owaisi has emerged as a leading national Muslim leader and the Congress leadership would still want him on its side. And given his proximity to Jaganmohan Reddy, Owaisi could also help in forging political friendships before or after elections.
The YSR Congress understandably has kept mum on the controversy. The Telugu Desam has only made a feeble token condemnation indicating that with the election season approaching, the Owaisis will not be political untouchables.
On the record, the police denies any political interference. The proof of the pudding will be in the eating and it will be seen if this controversial case too suffers the fate of several other cases registered against Akbaruddin Owaisi that are gathering dust in different police stations.
Owaisi hate speech: This is not the first time
Akbaruddin Owaisi might be hogging the headlines for his recent highly inflammatory speech but this is the not the first time that the Owaisis are courting controversy.
Asaduddin Owaisi – Lok Sabha MP from Hyderabad and Akbaruddin Owaisi – MLA are known for routine inflammatory speeches in and outside their respective constituencies. Watch the video above for a quick round of their controversial speeches.
Akrabuddin recently went on a tirade against the Hindus in a speech full of hatred in Adilabad. But even before this the Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen MLA has incited hatred. In this video, he said “We in Hyderabad want to behead this woman according to the fatwa,” when Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen had come to Hyderabad.
His elder brother, Asasuddudin is not to be left far behind. Though he has toned down after becoming an MP, it did not stop him from declaring that Salman Rushdie should be arrested for writing books that seemingly desecrate the sanctity of Islam.
All over YouTube, so why is Cong not pulling up Owaisi?
The hate speech of Akbar Owaisi of the MIM party at Adilabad has generated a lot of controversy but there is yet to be any severe action taken against him. In fact, his one-time ally Abid R Khan, General Secretary, APCC almost ended up defending his action calling it an aberration.
There is however ample instances of Owaisi giving incendiary speeches on several ocassions, including a fatwa to behead Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen.
Speaking to HNN, Abid Rasool Khan said, “We have already started the preliminary investigation that went on for the last 10 days and then if he is found guilty then the law will take its course.” It is however, extremely difficult to believe that the investigation took so much time when the video of the hate speech was circulating in YouTube in the matter of an hour.
When asked if the party was hesitating in raising their voice against the issue, he said, “They were a post-election alliance with the UPA. They have done a lot of secular work including electing a Dalit mayor in Hyderabad.”
However, given the timing of the speech (with impending General election in 2014) was the speech communal or political?
Sandhya Jain, columnist with The Pioneer feels it is certainly political. She said, “The timing of the speech is very political as Narendra Modi has just won an election.” According to her, the speech becomes really communal in the country where the ground situation should be communal.
She said, “The ground situation allows the situation to become volatile.” Such speeches also largely encash the insecurity of the minority community and that makes it difficult for parties to act against them as they fear risking their election prospects.”They are treated with kid gloves because they are seen as political vote banks,” she added.
Leaders like Akbaruddin fail to realise that returns, political or otherwise, from such speeches have started diminishing all over India. People are tired of the language, the tone and the tenor. They want politicians to articulate their ambitions and promise things concrete, not impress them with empty rhetoric. The audience at Adilabad would not be unaware that the speech was a self-serving one, aimed at consolidating MIM’s vote bank. If politicians presume that people cannot read motives in what they utter and do, they have to be stupid.
The world around is getting increasingly impatient of empty rhetoric. It wants constructive action from its leaders. Communal politics would be good if it ensured better quality of life for the members of a particular community. However, it invariably turns into hate politics. This has been India’s experience over the last many decades and the consequence of such politics has been disastrous.
The MIM leader offers a good opportunity to the government to press home the point. Swift and exemplary action against leaders like him would serve the purpose.
BJP leader Varun Gandhi is facing the music for his intemperate speech at an election rally. Leaders like Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi have ensured that the communal hate peddlers keep their mouths shut. There’s no reason why the likes of Akbaruddin should go unpunished.
This is the opportunity for the Congress leadership to prove to the world that it is awake to the aspirations of the new India and that it also wants to move beyond stale, uninspiring rhetoric of communal leaders.
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