Muslims face social exclusion and physical threats: Asad

There is an urgent need to discuss issues of social justice, says MP

Hyderabad parliamentarian Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday said that Muslims face a double whammy of social exclusion and physical threats, and that there is a pressing need to discuss issues of social justice.

Mr Owaisi was delivering the keynote address at the virtual release of the book Muslims in Telangana - A Discourse on Equity, Development and Security .

The book has been edited by former bureaucrat G Sudhir, development economist Amir Ullah Khan, academician Prof Abdul Shaban, and educationalist M A Bari.

Sharing his observations about the book, Mr Owaisi said, “Firstly, as the volume recognises, there is “double whammy” that Indian Muslims face. They face social exclusion, but also physical threats to life and property during communal pogroms and police atrocities. In addition to this, they also face a bureaucracy that does not take their concerns seriously,” even as he opined that backwardness is systematic and structural and is wrongly blamed on culture.

He said that Muslims have been made relevant only in contexts of Hindu-Muslim or secular issues. While there is a need to celebrate communal harmony, there are other factors that affect the community, and there is a need to discuss issues of social justice.

The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen president said that cultural explanations are given to the dismiss the concerns of Muslims. These include a lack of education being blamed on children being sent to madrassa, and an increase in their population on their faith. Disagreeing with these tropes, Mr Owaisi said, “But in reality, there is socio-economic data that explains that it is their exclusion from mainstream development that has caused them this harm, not some unique cultural traits only found in them,” he said.

Mr Owaisi said that Hindtuva has been attempting to fuse into a single mould, a community which is unique and diverse, and that the book brings about ‘caste-ification’ of Muslims.

“On social media, you will see a new term used for Muslims ‘puncture-wala’, which is used to insult Muslims. Firstly, only in a caste-ridden society can an occupation associated with hard work and skill be used as an insult. Secondly, the effort is to relegate Muslims to only ‘menial’ or ‘lowly’ jobs. Therefore, if you see them as scientists, doctors, politicians, journalists etc – they must be beaten and taught their place in society,” he said.

He alleged that many Muslim leaders have played the part of upper caste or upper class persons who are interested only in symbolism.

“The elitism has resulted in projecting Muslims as ‘former rulers’ and ‘royalty’, when in reality, majority of Muslims belong to backward castes and have never had access to any meaningful power,” he said.