Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) has amazed almost everyone by grabbing more seats than Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) in the just concluded elections in Maharashtra. MIM has won two seats and was narrowly defeated in three others. On many seats the party led by firebrand leader and Parliamentarian Asaduddin Owaisi stood second and third.



This is the first time that the Hyderabad-based political party has been able to do so well anywhere outside Hyderabad. Even outside old Hyderabad, the party has rarely done so well let alone win seats in assembly in other states. This is going to be a shot in the arms of Owaisis who have been undisputed lords of Hyderabad for the last several decades.This is the first time that MIM, a party that was limited to the old Hyderabad is now trying to expand to other parts of the country including Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar besides Karnataka.The party that hasn’t been able to send anyone else to Parliament except Asaduddin Owaisi and his father late Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi, a six-time member of Parliament. It is able to send over half a dozen MLAs to the state assembly and usually supported Congress Party both in the state and the Parliament.But the party remains in news for all the wrong reasons. Usually they are called the Shiv Sena of Indian Muslims, though so far its radius of influence was not beyond what someone had said about the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar-- “Sultanat-e-Shah-e-Alam, Az Dilli ta Palam” (The dominion of Emperor Shah Alam, begins from Delhi and ends at Palam).The same seems to be the case of Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen. But there is a difference. The two princes of the late Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi are now working hard to expand their area of influence from their den in old Hyderabad. They campaigned in Mumabi and other cities of Maharashtra where the state’s around 11 percent Muslims have significance presence and tried to do some groundwork for establishing their organization there. They didn’t have much hope in the Parliamentary elections where it is tough for even national organizations to ensure success of Muslim candidates.It is a pity that despite making more than 11 percent population in the state not a single person from the community was able to win a Parliamentary seat and represent the state. This tragedy is not just limited to the state where Abdur Rahman Antulay has served as a former chief minister. Antulay’s rule was one of the best in the state and unlike so many tainted ministers he had not a single allegation of corruption against him. Muslims despite making large chunk of populations in many states including Rajasthan (9 percent), Madhya Pradesh (7 percent), Gujarat (9 percent) and several other states have failed to win seats in Parliament.Condition in other places is also not that good. In recent Parliamentary elections, Muslims who make some 19 percent of the state population in UP didn’t win a single seat. They should have got as many as 15 or 16 seats at the minimum.Muslims won merely 23 Parliamentary seats in the 2014 Parliamentary elections in one of the worst performances by the community in elections. According to their population, Muslims should win no less than 75 seats in the temple of the Indian democracy. But there has been a steady decline of their representation not just in Parliament but in assembly elections in different parts of the country.There are several causes about the continued decline and one of the factors includes exclusion of Muslims from contesting SC/ST reserved constituencies. These reserved constituencies, many of them in areas where Muslims have large population, snatches away roughly 22% of the parliamentary seats and over 27% of the assembly seats from Muslim candidates. The fact that Muslims have been excluded from SC/STs, they cannot even compete in elections from these reserved seats.Owaisi, a firebrand leader whose vitriolic speeches match those by Togadia remains in news for all the wrong reasons most of the time. The same is true about his younger brother and MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi. They deliver fiery speeches and seek people’s sympathy by spewing venom against almost everyone. No one has been spared. From Modi to Mulayam Singh and even Azam Khan everyone has been attacked badly by him. I am sure he will feel ashamed by seeing some of the videos of his speeches by him and his brother. In a recent interview broadcast on India TV’s Aap Ki Adalat, when confronted with clips of his past speeches, Owaisi looked sheepish and defenseless.The success of the party in Maharashtra must be a huge shot in the arms of the two Owaisi brethren who were hoping to win just a single seat at the most. Final results show that they won from two seats, ended up runner up in three and third rank in more than half a dozen seats. Overall the party’s performance is more than impressive.But the party’s success is not good for the community in Maharasthra, already one of the most communally polarized states in the country. Their fiery speeches will help no one and calling of names will also shift to Maharashtra from the confines of Hyderabad.There is no doubt that powerful words of Owaisis, both senior and junior, appeal to many youth of the community who feel empowered by their rhetoric. They feel that they are the ones who can respond well to the challenges posed by the likes of Togadias and Amit Shahs. Fire vs fire and venom vs venom must be the response, they believe. But community must introspect if it needs rhetoric and sloganeering compared to well planned strategy to seek a way out from backwardness, high level of illiteracy and unemployment.The community has been doing well over the last more than a decade and its performance is astonishing. The proliferation of professional colleges and arrival of MNCs in India has given them a foothold in the high paying jobs in IT and software development, besides healthcare and allied sectors. They don’t look forward to government jobs alone as their future. Prosperity is visible. But a lot more needs to be done.Fiery speeches are not going to do any good. Well-planned efforts in improving educational scenario and creating entrepreneurial qualities among the community must be a priority for Muslims and their ‘disoriented’ leadership. They shouldn’t fall to the temptation of Muslim polity of old Hyderabad.

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Syed Ubaidur Rahman is a New Delhi based writer and commentator. He has written several books on Muslims and Islam in India including Understanding Muslim Leadership in India.