It was a smart political move by LK Advani, that has now brought the issue of Telengana onto the forefront. After months of yes and now, the Congress and Telengana Rashtra Samiti, led by maverick leader Chandrashekar Rao are now on the back foot, trying to salvage the situation.The reason is obvious, as the saffron party might walk away with the top prizes in the power game. Neither the Congress nor the TRS will be able to withstand the blitz that the BJP is likely to unleash in the coming days. And just like way it won in Jharkand and Chattisgarh, the BJP brigade is likely to win its way in Telengana.
Now that has set the other parties into a tizzy, and they are trying to make the best of a bad situation. While Congress and TRS want to postpone the issue of Telengana for another year or two, the MIM wants Hyderabad to be made into a Union territory. The Communists on the other hand reject the two state theory in totality. In between Congress leaders from Andhra and Rayalaseema want Hyderabad to be made into a union territory as well. Their take is that people from these two regions have contributed to the development of Hyderabad into an international city, and so they had a stake in its future.
If Hyderabad becomes an union territory, Warangal might become the capital of Telengana and Rajahmundry or Vizag might become the Andhra capital. But that will be unacceptable to people from Rayalaseema who see, Kurnool as the potential capital. Kurnool in fact was the Andhra Pradesh capital before Hyderabad was made the capital of the new state ion 1962. One option of making Hyderabad the combined capital of Telengana and Andhra will not work out. Any Andhra citizen wishing to come to Hyderabad will have to traverse 170 oddd kilometers through the Telengana territory before they can set foot on the city of Nizams. It not so easy as Chandigarh finds itself today, being the union territory and the capital of Haryana and Punjab.
The are advantages and disadvantages for Hyderabad if it becomes a Union territory. Hyderabad based companies account for about 65% of the taxes of the entire state. With a smaller space to work in, the entire amount accruing from such a scenario could be used for development of Hyderabad. But Hyderabad does not a single power station dedicated to it, nor does it have the access to new sources of drinking water like the Krishna and the Godavari. It will be akin to the situation which Delhi finds itself now, with Haryana and UP refusing to part with water for the city.
So should Hyderabad remain a union territory, or should it be the capital of Telengana ? Watch this space for more.
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DOWN BUT NOT OUT CAN BE SAID RIGHTLY
The grip of the Majlis-e-ittehadul Muslimeen on the community remains strong, despite minor dents.
WITH A Member representing Hyderabad in the Lok Sabha, five members in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly, 40 corporators in Hyderabad and 95-plus members elected to various municipal bodies in Andhra Pradesh, the All-India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen is one of the foremost representatives of the city's Muslims and the most powerful Muslim party in India and one can see the partys strenghth if it goes to Hyderabads Old city everywhere u look u can see MIM written on walls ,lightpoles and buildings leaving aside flags and posters of its Leadership. The Majlis has brought lot of development to the Old part of the city even after it is said it hasnt done anything by its opponents who are mostly Ex Majlis workers.
The Majlis was formed in 1927 "for educational and social uplift of Muslims". But it articulated the position that "the ruler and throne (Nizam) are symbols of the political and cultural rights of the Muslim community... (and) this status must continue forever".
The Majlis pitted itself against the Andhra Mahasabha and the communists who questioned the feudal order that sustained the Nizam's rule. It also bitterly opposed the Arya Samaj, which gave social and cultural expression to the aspirations of the urban Hindu population in the Hyderabad State of those days.
By the mid-1940s, the Majlis had come to represent a remarkably aggressive and violent face of Muslim communal politics as it organised the razakars (volunteers) to defend the "independence" of this "Muslim" State from merger with the Indian Union.
According to historians, over 1,50,000 such `volunteers' were organised by the Majlis for the Nizam State's defence but they are remembered for unleashing unparalleled violence against Hindu populations, the communists and all those who opposed the Nizam's "go it alone" policy. It is estimated that during the height of the razakar `agitation', over 30,000 people had taken shelter in the Secunderabad cantonment alone to protect themselves from these `volunteers'.
But the razakars could do little against the Indian Army and did not even put up a fight. Kasim Rizvi, the Majlis leader, was imprisoned and the organisation banned in 1948. Rizvi was released in 1957 on the undertaking that he would leave for Pakistan in 48 hours. Before he left though, Rizvi met some of the erstwhile activists of the Majlis and passed on the presidentship to Abdul Wahed Owaisi, a famous lawyer and an Islamic scholar who also was jailed for nearly 10 months after he took over the Majlis leadership as the then govt wanted to abolish the Majlis party but Owaisi refused to do so and was seen as a person who had financially supported the party when it was a bankrupt and weak one after the Police Action in Hyderabad State.
Owaisi is credited with having "re-written" the Majlis constitution according to the provisions of the Indian Constitution and "the realities of Muslim minority in independent India", according to a former journalist, Chander Srivastava. For the first decade-and-a-half after this "reinvention", the Majlis remained, at best, a marginal player in Hyderabad politics and even though every election saw a rise in its vote share, it could not win more than one Assembly seat.
The 1970s saw an upswing in Majlis' political fortunes. In 1969, it won back its party headquarters, Dar-us-Salaam — a sprawling 4.5-acre compound in the heart of the New City. It also won compensation which was used to set up an ITI on the premises and a women's degree college in Nizamabad town. In 1976, Salahuddin Owaisi took over the presidentship of the Majlis after his father's demise.
This started an important phase in the history of the Majlis as it continued expanding its educational institutions,Hospitals,Banks, including the first Muslim minority Engineering College and Medical College. Courses in MBA, MCA ,Nursing, Pharmacy and other professional degrees followed and now a daily newspaper known as Etemaad Daily. The 1970s were also a watershed in Majlis' history as after a long period of 31 years, Hyderabad witnessed large-scale communal rioting in 1979. The Majlis came to the forefront in "defending" Muslim life and property Majlis workers could be seen at these moments defending the properties of Muslims in the wake of riots and these workers were very hard even for the police to control them even now it is a known fact that there are nearly about 2500 units of strong members who only act if there is a seirous threat to the Owaisi family and these members are under the direct orders of the Owaisi family which leads the Majlis party leaving aside thousands of workers and informers throughout the State and even outside the country far away till America and the Gulf countries.
Salahuddin Owaisi, also known as "Salar-e-Millat" (commander of the community), has repeatedly alleged in his speeches that the Indian state has "abandoned" the Muslims to their fate. Therefore, "Muslims should stand on their own feet, rather than look to the State for help'', he argues.
This policy has been an unambiguous success in leveraging the Majlis today to its position of being practically the "sole spokesman" of the Muslims in Hyderabad and its environs.
Voting figures show this clearly. From 58,000 votes in the 1962 Lok Sabha elections for the Hyderabad seat, Majlis votes rose to 1,12,000 in 1980. The clear articulation of this "stand on one's feet" policy in education and `protection' during riots doubled its vote-share by 1984. Salahuddin Owaisi won the seat for the first time, polling 2.22 lakh votes. This vote-share doubled in the 1989 Lok Sabha elections to over four lakhs.
The Majlis has since continued its hold on the Hyderabad seat winning about five-and-a-half lakh votes each time.
Despite remarkable economic prosperity and negligible communal violence in the past decade, the hold of the Majlis on the Muslims of Hyderabad remains, despite minor dents. And despite widespread allegations of Majlis leaders having "made money", most ordinary Muslims continue to support them because, as one bank executive put it "they represent our issues clearly and unambiguously''. An old Historian Bakhtiyar khan says the Owaisi family was a rich family even before entering Politics and he says he had seen the late Majlis leader Abdul Wahed Owaisi in an American Buick car at a time when rarely cars were seen on Hyderabad Roads and the family had strong relations with the ersthwhile Nizams of Hyderabad and the Paighs even now the family is considered to be one of the richest familes in Hyderabad.
A university teacher says that the Majlis helped Muslims live with dignity and security at a time when they were under attack and even took the fear out of them after the Police action and adds that he has seen Majlis leaders in the front at times confronting with the Police and the Govt.
Asaduddin Owaisi, the articulate UK educated barrister son of Salahuddin Owaisi and Former leader of the Majlis' Legislature party and now an MP himself who has travelled across the globe meeting world leaders and organizatons and even in war zones compares the Majlis to the Black Power movement of America.
The Majlis that emerged after 1957 is a completely different entity from its pre-independence edition, he says adding that comparisons with that bloody past are "misleading and mischievous". "That Majlis was fighting for state power, while we have no such ambitions or illusions".
He stoutly defends the need for "an independent political voice" for the minorities, which is willing to defend them and project their issues "firmly".
"How can an independent articulation of minority interests and aspirations be termed communal," he asks and contests any definition of democracy which questions the loyalty of minorities if they assert their independent political identity. "We are a threat not only to the BJP and Hindu communalism, but also to Muslim extremism," Asaduddin claims. "By providing a legitimate political vent for Muslims to voice their aspirations and fears, we are preventing the rise of political extremism and religious obscurantism when the community is under unprecedented attack from Hindu communalists and the state''. He can be seen in his speeches speaking against terrorism in the Country and says if the time arises Majlis will stand side by side in defending the Nation.
INDIAN MUSLIM MP OWAISI IN LEBANON SPEAKING OUT
INDIAN LOK SABHA MP ASADUDDIN OWAISI SPEAKS OUT IN LEABANON AND MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
by: pavan city najah on Sep 6 2006 4:25PM in India Election 2006 comments rss:
INDIAN LOK SABHA MP MR OWAISI GOES TO LEBANON AND SPEAKS OUT HYDERABAD LOK SABHA MP ASADUDDIN OWAISI IS THE FIRST INDIAN DIPLOMAT TO VISIT LEBANON AFTER THE WAR ACCORDING TO THE ETEMAAD URDU DAILY AND DECCANNEWS AND ISLAMIC NEWS OF SYRIA MR ASADUDDIN IS ON A PRIVATE VISIT TO LEBANON AND SYRIA AND NOT REPRESENTING THE UPA GOVERNMENT OVER THERE IT IS SAID TO BE A GOODWILL VISIT AND TO SHOW SUPPORT OF INDIAN MUSLIMS IN THE WAKE OF DEATH AND MASSIVE DESTRUCTION OVER THERE ACCORDING TO THE REPORTS MR OWAISI FLEW FROM DELHI TO DAMASCUAS CAPITAL OF SYRIA AND WAS WELCOMED THERE BY INDIAN EMBASSY STAFF AT THE AIRPORT AND WHILE HIS STAY IN DAMASCUAS THERE FOR 3 DAYS HE VISITED HISTORIC AND ISLAMIC HOLY SHRINES AND EVEN VISITED THE GRAND UMMAYD MOSQUE AND AFTER THAT HE WENT TO BEIRUT AND ON HIS STAY THERE HE ALONG WITH HIZBULLAH MPS VISITED THE SOUTHEREN PART OF BEIRUT CITY WHICH WAS THE MOST BOMBED AREA IN BEIRUT WHICH WAS REPETADELY STUCK BY ISRAELI WARPLANES AND FROM THERE HE ALONG WITH VARIOUS OTHER SOCIAL AND AID ACTVISTS HE WENT TO QANA AND VISITED THE PLACE WHERE A BUILDING WAS COLLAPSED AFTER A ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE IN WHICH 57 CIVILLANNS WERE KILLED AND MR OWAISI HAS EVEN VISITED THE PORT CITY OF TYRE WHICH WAS DESERTED AT THE TIME OF WAR AND BINT JEBIL AN AREA IN SOUTHERN LEBANON WHICH WAS THE MAIN BATTLEFRONT BETWEEN HEZBOLLAH FIGHTERS AND ISRAELI ARMY AND IS SAID THAT THE WHOLE VILLAGES IN THAT AREA HAVE BEEN DEVASTED BY THE FIGHTING WHICH LASTED FOR 34 DAYS AND ON HIS VISIT TO BEIRUT THE HYDERABAD MP GAVE AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW TO THE HEZBOLLAH RUN TV AL MANAR AND IS SAID THAT HE HAS CAME TO LEBANON TO SHOW HIS SOLADIRTY WITH THE LEBANESE PEOPLE AND SAID HOW INDIAN PARLIAMENT HAS CONDMENNED THE WAR IN LEBANON AND HAS OFFERED AID WORTH 10 CRORES DOLLARS TO LEBANON HE EVEN MET WITH MANY CIVILLANS AND OLD AGE WOMEN WHOSE SONS WERE KILLED WHILE FIGHTING THE ISRAELI ARMY MR OWAISI WILL STAY IN LEBANON AND MEET LEBABNESE MPS AND EVEN WILL VISIT INDIAN EMBASSY IN BEIRUT AND MEET INDIAN EMBASSY STAFF AND AMBASSADOR .THERE ARE SOME REPORTS SUGGESTED BY ISLAMIC WEBSITE THAT HE EVEN MET HEZBOLLAH LEADERS WHILE HIS STAY IN BEIRUT REPORTS SUGGEST HE MET HIZBULLAH COMMANDER IN SOUTH HASAN HUBALLAH IN A SECRET LOCATION AND WHILE COMING OUT OF THERE WAS SURROUNDED BY HIZBULLAH GUNMEN HE EVEN MET HIZBULLAH CHAIRMAN FOR ECONOMIC AND RESARCH DEVELOPMENT DR ALI DIAD AND WITH THE TYRE CITY MAYOR AND EVEN MET WITH VARIOUS OTHER LEBANESE POLTICAL LEADERS AND MPS OF VARIOUS PARTYS SPEAKING OUTSIDE LEBANESE PARLIAMENT AFTER COMING OUT MEETING WITH LEBANESE PARLIAMENT SPEAKER NABIL BERRI THE MAJLIS PARTY LEADER OF HYDERABAD SAID ISRAEL HAS COMMITTED ACTS OF STATE TERRRORISM BY TARGETING INNOCENT CIVILLANS AND DESTROYING ITS INFRASTRUCTURE WORTH BILLIONS AND THIS WILL OR NOT DAMAGE THE HIZBULLAH AND THE LEBANESE PEOPLES WILL TO FIGHT AGAINST ILLEGAL OCCUPATION HE SAID PEACE CANNOT BE ACHIEVED IN THE MIDDLE EAST UNTIL ISRAEL WITHDRAWS FROM ALL PALESTINIAN OCCUPIED TERRORTRIES HE SAID NEGOTIOTANS SHOULD START AS SOON AS POSSIBLE HE SAID THE HAMAS LED DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN LOOKED DOWN BY THE SAME COUNTRIES WHICH ARE PREACHING DEMOCRACY IN THE MIDDLE EAST HE ALSO SAID THAT IRAQ HAS BECOME THE MOST LAWLESS COUNTRY DUE TO THE AMERICAN POLICY AND EVERDAY MORE THAN 30 IRAQIS ARE BEEN KILLED AND WIDESPREAD OF ANARCHY HAS HAPPENED AND MANY HISTORIC AND ISLAMIC SHRINES HAVE BEEN DAMAGED IN AN ORGANIZED MANNER HE ALSO SAID HEZBOLLAH LEADER HASSAN NASRALLAH HAS BECOME MORE POPULAR IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD DUE TO THE ISRAELI WAR ON LEBANON HE SAID UNITED STATES OF AMERICA SHOULD CHANGE ITS POLICIES IN MIDDLE EAST AND NOT ATTACK IRAN IN THE NAME OF WAR ON TERROR HE ALSO SAID INDIA HAS BEEN EFFECTED BY CROSS BORDER SPONSERD TERRORISM HE SAID WEST SHOULD COOPERATE MORE WITH INDIA TO FIGHT TERRORISM HE SAID MANY INNOCENT WERE KILLED IN MUMBAI BLASTS FOR NO REASON HE ALSO ACCUSED WEST OF DOUBLE STANDARDS
First thing, I am just wondering, whether the current agitation is to get Telangana Country or a separate Telangana State. The way the agitation is going, looks like they are fighting for a Telanagana Country.
In my view, Hyderbad should become a UNION TERRITORY, this is the best solution. It is belong to everybody, both Andhra and Telangana region people, everybody contributed to development of this vast city. If it is treated as Capital of Telangana, there will be a huge loss.
Union territory is a failed concept. This will destroy my hyderabad. No union territory has grown as much as state capitals. look at daman-diu pondichery, yanam, do any one say they are has developed has any state capital like hyderabad. Please don't try to destroy our hyderabad by suggesting stupid things like making hyderabad union territory. if you don't want to be in hyderabad please get lost.. don't destroy my hyd/
Hyderabad is a great city and has been the capital of Andhra Pradesh which includes, telangana, rayalaseema and Andhra. If AP gets divided, people from all the three regions should get their equal share of hyderabad. If fighting for a seperate state is justified then people of Hyderabd should fight for their city. Hyderabd will not in any way be a part of telangana. It shoudl be an independent state or UT in itself.
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