The Curious Case of Asaduddin Owaisi

     Kingshuk Nag once wrote why Owaisi is gaining popularity. He rewinds the Gujarat days: the more the secularists would find fault with Modi the more popular he would become among his core constituency of Gujarati Hindus. The same thing is happening in the case of Owaisi.

Asaduddin Owaisi (Photo Source: AIMIM Website) 

     He was born in Hyderabad on 13 May 1969 and reached to the president of AIMIM. He has been elected as the Member of Parliament for four times representing the Hyderabad constituency in Lok Sabha. He is not the sole politician in his family, but his father and brother are also active politicians. He always catches the central screen of mass media due to his politics primarily centered on Muslim and Dalit.

     AIMIM has been leading in an area where Muslims are in majority that’s why the party has held the Lok Sabha seat for the Hyderabad constituency since 1984. In the 2014 Telangana legislative assembly election, the AIMIM won seven seats and received recognition as a state party. In the same year, the party also won two seats in Maharashtra assembly election and one seat in 2019 assembly election. Owaisi’s party has won five seats in 2020 Bihar assembly election, and so called liberal circle starts murmuring over his participation in the WB assembly election regarding that he and his party are benefitting to BJP and Sangh Pariwar.

     On this question, many in the liberal circle are disquiet on Owaisi’s rise in national politics and how he is cutting the Congress-Mahagathabandhan vote share and directly benefitting the Sangh Parivar. But, it is not true as per the BBC article that embarks the reason behind Owaisi’s party victory in the Seemanchal area of Bihar.

     Seemanchal area includes 24 seats and more than half seats have Muslim majority of votes. BBC Hindi in his report portrayed that Muslim voters desire his own identity. They do not want to be seen as vote bank defeating BJP. Bridges have broken here. Candidates who have been winning in the name of secularism do not have interests in developmental works. The AIMIM did not split the votes. The party contested here only 20 seats where more than half seats have Muslim majority of votes but won only five seats despite that the party did not have many votes on other seats.

     Javeed Alam declares in his book ‘who wants democracy’ Muslims as a joker in the democratic pack. A joker owes importance, interest for everyone, but only some people care about their needs. He alleges that parties like Congress and others used only the utility of their vote bank without giving the strata of development. That’s why Owaisi’s party AIMIM enters election battleground where Muslims in the majority.

     His political ideology extracts his personality as when the Left denied support to UPA during 2008 US-India nuclear deal, Owaisi supported to prevent the opposition right-wing BJP.

     It was a clue and the latest trend indicates that the AIMIM and Owaisi like the politics of religion, identity, and in many commentators’ opinion polarization as BJP do. That’s why where Owaisi’s party takes part in the election, BJP and AIMIM automatically gain advantages in respect to other parties because the developmental issues are not so driving factor to change the voting behaviour of the masses.

     Commentators compare Owaisi to Jinnah, but he has been opposing Jinnah’s two-nation theory every time. He sticks to his agendas that Muslims must develop their political force similar to OBCs, Dalits and Yadavs. He supports reservation for backwards Muslims and maintains a clear stand that he is against Hindutva ideology but not against Hindus.

    More appreciating he argues for the abolition of the Haj subsidy and criticizes ISIS as a problem among Muslims and called them dogs of hell. There are so many that show him dissimilar to his contemporary Muslim leaders. That’s why he has been rewarded as Sansad Ratna Award for asking 1080 questions in the parliament compared to the national average of 292 in 2014.

    In public life, there are a few leaders who have fewer controversies, but Owaisi is not a member of this club. He and controversies have been going hand-in-hand. Multiple cases have been registered due to hate speech. Owaisi was booked for charges related to manhandling the Medak district collector in 2005. In 2009, a case was registered against Owaisi for chasing and beating up a polling agent in the Moghalpura area. He denied saying the slogan Bharat Mata Ki Jai that gained more controversy in 2016.

    In Nizam Pasha’s Opinion: the sad reality of this country is that despite being a London-educated barrister and experienced politician having the right politics and speaking the language only of nationalism and inclusion, Owaisi can never come to represent Indians at large. That’s all.

The Old Man and The Sea: hope takes over unlucky moment ultimately

Book/Film Review- 2

The old man and the sea

By- Ernest Hemingway

Maple Press, Rs. 75

“Every day is a new day. It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact. Then when luck comes you are ready.”

     This novel- ‘the old man and the sea’ has proved itself to be one of the enduring works of American literature and it has got popularity as Hemingway’s last major work that tells a story about friendship, care, respect and survival.

The novel cover (Picture by R. Suresh Bhardwaj)                

    One who has been a student of English literature will be familiar with Ernest Hemingway who is a well-known American writer and journalist. He was an excellent story-teller and majority of his works revolved around the theme of loss, violence and death caused by the First World War that led to the futility of human existence.

     In the ‘The old man and the sea’ he narrates the story of an old fisherman, Santiago, whose long struggle isn’t over one fish, but with the act of living-fully, actively and robustly.

    Story starts with the continuous failure of eighty-four days without taking a fish. In the first forty days a boy has been with him. But after forty days without a fish the boy’s parents has told him that the old man is definitely and finally salao, which is the worst form of unlucky, and the boy has gone at their orders at an another boat which caught three gold fish the first week.

    Story grows up with—has old age robbed him of his once great skill? Or is he just having bad luck? And so many like will his scarred hands ever again pull in a prized catch?

    Hemingway’s novel shows how the life and death gives big lessons to man during his depressing struggle. When the old man was watching the sea with the hope of getting a single fish, he wanted to sleep and eat. He held onto the rope as though his life depends on it. In this scene of struggle, Hemingway shows the masculinity of a simple man in a simple habitat. He demonstrates how heroism is possible in even the most seemingly humdrum circumstances.

Animal Farm: A portrayal of how high ideas turn in dictatorship

Book/Film Review- 1

Animal Farm 

By- George Orwell 

Amazing Publication, Rs. 125

     ‘All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others’ unfolds a great satire on the idealism that how highly principles-based newly independent manor farm turned into a dictatorship of heartless animal elite.

The novel cover (Picture by R. Suresh Bhardwaj)

       The novel starts with the defeat of Mr. Jones, the master of Manor farm, when the oppressed animals take over the farm and the devious and stone-hearted elites among animals take control of the farm.

       Many believe that this novel remained unpublished due to its savage attack on Stalin, ruler of USSR, Britain’s then ally, and got turned down by publisher after publisher—today it’s known to be one of Orwell’s best works, that is why Malcolm Bradbury once said that remains our great satire of the darker face of modern history.

Ideas for Rebelling

       Before getting independence, the novel elaborates never-lasting sets of the line as man is the only creature that consumes without producing. It is the foundation for rebellion. As it always happens, affirmative action takes place in view of dissimilar characteristics of animals that every animal will work according to his capacity.

      The story grows up and ends with all men are enemies and all animals are comrades. Animal comrades start uniting and it is declared that all the habits of men are evil. No animal must ever kill any other animal. All animals are equal.

      This is the motivation for all that animals can go beyond their limits. It happened after the carving of seven commandments on the wall that embarked the real face of idealism, and rebellion took place.

 The Seven Commandments

 1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.

 2. whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.

 3. No animal shall wear clothes.

 4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.

 5. No animal shall drink alcohol.

 6. No animal shall kill any other animal.

 7. All animals are equal.

      It reveals the secret of how even all animals believed in the seven commandments and worked like slaves for good fortune, but the elite gets benefits at all.

       Conservation in Novel, “If this rebellion is to happen anyway, what difference does it make, whether we work for it or not?” and the pigs, the cleverest one in animals, had great difficulty.

Novel ends with…

      Animals remember now a day that no creature called any other creature ‘master’. All animals were equal.

      But, at a moment, all animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.

       He satirically concludes Animal Farm-Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs, the cleverest animal in the farm? The creatures outside looked from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was possible to say, which was which.  

About the Author

George Orwell, pseudonym of Eric Arthur Blair was born in Motihari, Bihar India on 25th June 1903 and has written many masterpieces- Nineteen Eighty-Four, Homage to Catalonia, Coming up for Air and the greatest classic- Animal Farm.

Reforms connected with the land

     The latest one is neither the last nor the first movement connected with the land in India as a primarily agricultural society. The uprising of peasant movement against new farm laws in states of Punjab and other may be categorized as ‘The Rich Farmer Movement’ as per the prominent political scientist Sudha Pai’s categorization based on the fivefold criteria—the pattern of land ownership, state policies, technology-based change, the pattern of mobilization, and the leadership.

The rich farmer movement at a glance

     Its origin can be traced in the 1960s Green Revolution that resulted in the commercialization of agriculture and class differentiation. Those years have been a witness of how the rich farmer organizations acted as pressure groups upon the state and demanded policies beneficial to them.

     Then, Congress in rule decided to follow a different path to industrialization: make agriculture production through investment in technology and this initiative divided the agricultural regime as rural vs. urban and west vs. east because the benefits of the Green Revolution were not evenly distributed.

       The same has also happened in the early 90s when the structural adjustment program (SAP) leading to the globalization of Indian economy and the farmer movements entered in new phase market-oriented policies rather attract marginal/small farmers to mobilize against the state, but the rich farmer movements have been frequent for many years when these farmers think that governmental policies may go against their interests.

       Economic liberalization did not allow new agricultural policy, but it was BJP-led NDA coalition government which announced National agricultural Policy in 2000. Its main objective was to make agriculture an industry. Then, Congress-led UPA came to power in 2004. The farmer movements rose and slept timely on the issue of farmers’ suicides. In 2014, Modi claimed Delhi as BJP secured a full majority in the lower house, and the central government aiming at doubling farmers’ income till 2022. Following his goals, the government made many initiatives and the prominent last one is—New Farm Laws. 

Peasant movement and New Farm Laws       

     Three bills have been passed in the parliament and got the president’s assent in September that dealt the ever-growing question of agricultural reform, but attracted the protest by the section of rich farmers from the state of Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh.

     The government got the motivation for these bills from the standing committee on agriculture (2018-19) and a high-powered seven chief ministerial group set up in 2019 that have recommended for the changes in the related acts and nodded for new acts.

     These new three acts contain different provisions that can be summarized in allowing intra-state and inter-state trade of farmers’ produce beyond APMC markets without State governments’ levy and cess, contract farming and regulating the supply of certain food items by the central government. 

      These provisions will certainly harass the interests of middle man, politics involved in APMC markets and levy on agriculture collected by the states.

       The latest farmer movement’s demand like saving MSP and others may be an excuse for restoring the said one. That is why All India Kisan Coordination Committee (AIKCC) from Tamil Nadu and Shetkari Sangahatana like organisations support the government’s move in these words—we have been agitating for the last 30 years for an open market and liberal system—we have got it. 

In Conclusion

         As soon as possible, the government should go ahead with these charming provisions and provide a short help for marginal and small farmers that have been excluded from the market since the period of the green revolution and then economic liberalisation of the 90s.