Asaduddin Owaisi on his future plans and strategies.

Asaduddin Owaisi.

HYDERABAD:
"We offer a voice for Muslims at all levels"

Asaduddin Owaisi spoke to India Today Senior Editor Amarnath K.Menon at the AIMIM headquarters, Darussalam, in Hyderabad on his future plans and strategies.

Q. What are the lessons you have learnt in expanding your party beyond Hyderabad?

A. We have to begin with booth- and ward-level committees. We are a small party that cannot boast of the resources bigger parties enjoy. Secondly, well-attended meetings do not assure us of votes. Thirdly, we have to focus on women's core groups, which we have begun in Hyderabad in the last three years.

Q. What is it that the AIMIM offers to make inroads into Muslim pockets in other states?

A. Political representation and a voice for Muslims at all levels, from the panchayat to the Parliament. One of the reasons why Muslims are weak, dis-empowered and backward in social and economic terms is because we are not politically relevant.

Q. Even leaders such as G.M. Banatwala and Ebrahim Sulaiman Sait could not rally Muslims to emerge as a larger political force. How is your strategy different?

A. What I am doing is not even 0.01 per cent of what those stalwarts did. The challenges are different in these times. Social media is changing the way we communicate. I can put up my speeches and it makes an instant impact. When I was refused permission, just two days before my rally at Azamgarh, we had a meeting in Hyderabad and posted it on the Web. There were 15,000 hits in just 24 hours and everyone heard it on their mobile phone in Azamgarh. We are encouraging party activists to use the social media extensively.

Q. Given the kind of hate mongering rhetoric that both you and your brother indulge in, will not the appeal remain communal and sectarian and lead to further polarization of Muslims?

A. We are focused sharply on development with dignity. The youth are tired and desperate for want of opportunities. We are trying to get them involved rather than allow them to be radicalized. That is already happening. Personally for me, it will be the happiest day of my life if we get a Dalit or any non-Muslim elected as a legislator on my party ticket.
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