Hate Speech.pdf

8/13/2019 Hate Speech.pdf

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Akbaruddin Owaisiand a suave new brand of

hate politics


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Table of contents

Hate speech in a slick new avatar?

Owaisi, Raj Thackeray: The suave new faces of hate politics? 04 Why we are likely to hear more Owaisi-type hate speeches 06Owaisi hate speech: This is not the rst time 08Owaisi speech: Why the time is ripe to clamp down on hate politics 09Faux pas or prelude to Operation Polarisation? 11

The politics of hateOwaisi arrest: How the BJP and MIM hope to gain from it 14Owaisis mock media, divide Muslims to expand vote base 16

All over YouTube, so why is Cong not pulling up Owaisi? 18

The Owaisi saga Did the police slip up in Owaisi case? 20Hate speech: Police arrest MIM leader Owaisi 22

Akbaruddin Owaisi sent to 14 days judicial custody 23Owaisi hopes for HC relief, supporters damage media vans 24

Andhra HC dismisses petition to remove Owaisis speechesfrom YouTube 25
http://www.firstpost.com/


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This is a new combo of hate speech politics that wehave not been used to. Raj, when he started,

looked like an exception; but now, withOwaisi - although not new to politics andhate-speak - are we seeing a new trend?

G Pramod Kumar, Jan 9, 2013

Owaisi, Raj Thackeray:The suave new faces of hate politics?

W ith the rise of Akbaruddin Owaisi, thenew icon of hate-speech in India, RajThackeray, the Hindutva hottie, hascompetition. But, together, they seem to havedemolished the long-held stereotype of hatepolitics in the country.

They are among the limited edition of younger,hate-speech politicians in India: clean-shaven,suave, well-educated and sharply dressed. Bothhad an urban and privileged upbringing and went to schools and colleges where they mixed with cosmopolitan crowds.

But when they open their mouth, there is some-thing shockingly misplaced: its pure venomthat goes well to our trained eyes and ears with saffron, vermillion, beards and skull-caps.

However, as we get used to their shrill, theysound interesting, however retrograde and dan-

gerous they are.This is a new combo of hate politics that wehave not been used to. Raj, when he started,looked like an exception; but now, with Owaisi although not new to politics and hate-speak are we seeing a new trend?

Are they just a random occurrence or theemerging face of extreme politics in India?

Is hate-speech undergoing an un-labouredmake-over?

Probably, its too early to say; but that they have


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established a new look-and-feel for hate-speechpolitics is signi cant because politics is alsoabout stereotypes and images. Just as the waythe congress had clad itself in khadi, from whicheven Rajiv or Rahul Gandhi couldnt escape,hate-speech has always been comfortable beingretro, scruffy, frothy and intimidating.

And their constituencies had been mostly rural,old-fashioned and the city-ghettos.

In Indias political iconography, which is alsohighly deceitful, trying a new model over theexisting one that too a perfectly workingone is fraught with risks of rejection becauseperception is more important than reality. Onthe other hand, the new-age looks might be the breakthrough that hate-speech politicians have been looking for to create a new constituency.

The stereotypical extremist was certainly repel-ling for the urban and young Indian, but a Rajor Owaisi are models that might make their brand of politics look cool. Raj has alreadyshown that its a working proposition, and Ow-aisi might reinforce its replicability.

The duo has instant solutions that this con-

stituency the urban, young and otherwiseapolitical might lap up. The members of thisconstituency want faster solutions and systemicchanges overnight. They wanted Kasab to belynched without a trial, and the Delhi rapists to be hanged in public without the courts inter- vention.

They are a highly en-tropic constituency, whichis perhaps ashamed of the old images and ways

of the country and its people. They might besmall in number, but the recent uprisings haveshown that they have the repower.

Raj and Owaisi will appeal to the extreme youthof this constituency. Raj has an easy and instantsolution for the ills of Mumbai and incidentslike the Delhi rapes drive out the Bihari mi-grants. Similarly, Owaisi has an easy solutionfor Muslim assertion: in 15 minutes, 250 millionMuslims can show one billion Hindus who ismore powerful.

In the past, when Raj spoke against the Muslimsand migrants in Mumbai, Owaisi was certainto execute a fatwa against Salman Rushdie andTaslima Nasreen if they ever entered Hydera- bad.

Raj proclaims and demands all this and more without stirring out of his home turf, namelyMumbai, and the right for his hate-speech wasinherited.

Owaisis turf is also strictly his city, and hislegacy of hate-speech also was inherited fromhis father Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi, a six timeMP from Hyderabad. As in the case of Rajsuncle Bal Thackeray, Owaisi senior was equallyagrant in his communal and divisive politics.

While Thackeray poured hatred against minori-ties and migrants, Owaisi senior targeted theIndian State. According to him, Muslims had been abandoned by India and should stand ontheir own feet instead of looking for help fromthe State.

In, India, most of the Sangh Parivar indoctrina-tion started with their khaki and red tikka. They were the established routes to radical thinking.

In the sangh parivar camp, Varun Gandhi, al-though still kurta-clad, is another representativeof this creed. He is young, urban, well-spoken, but unabashedly in ammatory. He dresses uphis communal vitriol in such smart oratory thatpeople are more amused than put off.

The designer doctrine might create a paralleland fast-track process of enrollment for hate-speech politics in India. Raj and Owaisi have

piloted a model which shows that in ammatoryspeech and communal polarisation do not haveto come with any kind of uniform. They havealso shown that it is a smart thing to defy stere-otypes and reach out to new constituencies.

Interestingly, the State has been quite soft onthe designer radicals. Had they been old fash-ioned with no urban legacy, the story wouldhave been different.

Anyway, as the cliche goes, lets wait and see.


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Why we are likely to hear more Owaisi-type hate speeches

The Owaisi hate speech should be seen in the

larger context of Muslim parties seeking to getout of the secular umbrella.

R Jagannathan, Jan 9, 2013

T he Akbaruddin Owaisi hate speech of24 December 2012 is not what everyonethinks it is. Despite the incendiary na-ture of the speech, the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Mus-limeen (MIM) leaders poison tongue should be

seen for what it is: an attempt to cock a snookat so-called secular parties. Muslims are keen tomove away from the umbrella provided by theseparties. Parties such as the Congress and Sama- jwadi are thus being put on notice.

While Owaisi will get his brief time in jail, it isunlikely to achieve anything more than increasehis attraction to his Muslim constituency. Andthe real message is here.

For some time now Muslims have been theonly constituency treated as a vote-bank with-out their own direct share of power (except inKerala and Kashmir). Every caste, every groupand every community has had the advantage of being represented by one of their own in Indiasraucous democracy, but Muslims have had toseek compromise under secular umbrellas often under the Congress and various regionalparties in the states.

Owaisis rabble-rousing speech should thus beseen as another attempt to separate the Muslim vote bank from secular parties and this trendcan only accelerate over the coming years.

Owaisis MIM, currently con ned to Hyderabad,has recently been trying to extend its constitu-ency to nearby areas of the old Hyderabad state, where Muslims had a larger share of political

voice. Last year, MIM forayed into neighbouringMaharashtra, where the party suddenly in-creased its tally in the Nanded Municipal Cor-poration to 11 seats from just one.

However, MIM is only one of several Muslimout ts seeking a larger Muslim vote base at theregional or national level.

At the national level, the Welfare Party of India

started two years ago is said to have the blessings of the Jamait e-Islami-e-Hind (JIH),though the latter denies it. The party is yet tomake its mark electorally, but it is busy open-ing chapters in various states. Its Maharashtrachapter is to start this April. The Jamait is toMuslims like what the RSS is to Hindus.

In the Jangipur Lok Sabha byelection last Octo- ber, where Pranab Mukherjees son Abhijit (nowinfamous for his dented, painted quote) cameclose to losing the election as the Welfare Partymanaged to take away a chunk of Muslim votesthat the Congress normally takes for granted.

Nor are MIM and Welfare the only Muslimparties. In almost every state with a signi cant

Muslim population, there are Muslim partiessprouting to claim the vote.

Even though the Indian Union Muslim League(the oldest of the pure Muslim parties) has been


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around since independence, its presence has been restricted to Kerala. The rash of new Mus-lim parties emerging elsewhere is a sign thatMuslims are regional in their outlook the waythe caste-based and other parties are.

Thus we have the MIM in Andhra, the All IndiaUnited Democratic Front (AIUDF) in Assam,the Peace Part of India In Uttar Pradesh, theNational Conference and PDP in Kashmir, andthe Social Democratic Party of India in Bengal.In Tamil Nadu, we have the Muslim MunnetraKazhagam, and so on.

It is in this broader context that we must assessthe Owaisi hate speech. It may be about hate, but it is also about staking out a claim to repre-senting Muslims in India.

What is clear is that there is no single Muslimpan-India party that can claim to speak on

behalf of all Muslims, and this is unlikely tohappen since there is as much diversity amongMuslim populations in various states as there isamong castes and communities.

Just as Mayawati has been able to make onlya limited dent among Dalits outside UttarPradesh, Muslim parties will have their workcut out in trying to become pan-India parties.

But as they ght for their own votes to establishprimacy in their own regions, Indias edglingMuslim parties could get shriller in order to tellMuslims that they can do represent them betterthan the rest.

Owaisis hate speech is unlikely to be the last asMuslim parties compete to establish some de-gree of ascendency over the rest. The Congresshas to be most scared of this development.


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Owaisi hate speech:This is not the first time

Akbaruddin Owaisi is facing arrest because of hishate speech in Adilabad but the Owaisi brothers

are known for their in ammatory speeches.

FP Staff, Jan 3, 2013

A kbaruddin Owaisi might be hogging theheadlines for his recent highly in am-matory speech but this is the not therst time that the Owaisis are courting contro-

versy.

Asaduddin Owaisi Lok Sabha MP from Hy-derabad and Akbaruddin Owaisi MLA are

known for routine in ammatory speeches inand outside their respective constituencies. Watch the video above for a quick round of theircontroversial speeches.

Akrabuddin recently went on a tirade againstthe Hindus in a speech full of hatred in Adila- bad. But even before this the Majlis IttehadulMuslimeen MLA has incited hatred. In this video, he said We in Hyderabad want to be-head this woman according to the fatwa, whenBangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen had cometo Hyderabad.

His elder brother, Asasuddudin is not to be leftfar behind. Though he has toned down after becoming an MP, it did not stop him from de-claring that Salman Rushdie should be arrestedfor writing books that seemingly desecrate thesanctity of Islam.

Watch Video
http://av.firstpost.com/2013/01/165548_owaisi-mash-up-ed.mp4http://www.firstpost.com/


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Owaisi speech: Why the time is ripe to clamp down on hate politics

There are indications that India has matured overthe last one decade. A few leaders cannot be

allowed to reverse the process.

Akshaya Mishra, Jan 4, 2013

C aste politics has its uses, politics basedon religion has none.The former places the traditionally exploited,marginalised and unprivileged sections of thesociety on a platform from where they can bargain hard for what is their due in a competi-tive democracy. At the core of it are positivesuperior values justice, fairness and equality.The core of the politics of religion is composedof raw emotions anger, hate and malice. It isdestructive, because it is intrinsically devoid ofany idea of construction.

Mature people and mature societies learn togrow beyond religious identities and grievances,and focus on the aspirational and the produc-tive. There are indications that India has ma-tured over the last one decade. Inter-religioustension has been substantially low, communalhate-mongering has reduced and people arehitting the streets with demands that are com-pletely secular. Political leaders are sensingthe mood and even the most communal amongthem are busy recasting their image to t in.

However, some leaders dont get the message

that people have moved on.

If Akbaruddin Owaisi, leader of the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), thought he hasimpressed the members of his community withhis Adilabad hate speech, he should read thesense of disgust in the members of his own com-munity who have been speaking to the mediain Hyderabad and elsewhere. Yes, he receivedapplause from the large gathering while makingthe speech, but lets not read too much into that.People always appreciate a good performance.They dont bother so much about the content.

Speeches like these are designed to stoke com-munal violence. That no communal violence

has been reported from Andhra Pradesh afterthe event is proof that people have learnt to beindifferent to what people like Akbaruddin dishout.

Its also heartening that the speech achievedlittle beyond generating a lot of curiosity in themedia, particularly the online media. If he ex-pected a polarising effect from his drama, there was not any. Why is this guy talking rubbish?

How can he get away with such a speech? Whosthis character? these were the dominant reac-tions. Of course, we had the routine government bashing riding on it. The reactive anger wasconspicuous by its lack of intensity.

Leaders like Akbaruddin fail to realise that re-turns, political or otherwise, from such speecheshave started diminishing all over India. Peopleare tired of the language, the tone and the tenor.They want politicians to articulate their ambi-tions and promise things concrete, not impressthem with empty rhetoric. The audience at Adilabad would not be unaware that the speech was a self-serving one, aimed at consolidating


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MIMs vote bank. If politicians presume thatpeople cannot read motives in what they utterand do, they have to be stupid.

The world around is getting increasingly impa-tient of empty rhetoric. It wants constructive ac-tion from its leaders. Communal politics would be good if it ensured better quality of life for themembers of a particular community. However,it invariably turns into hate politics. This has been Indias experience over the last many dec-ades and the consequence of such politics has been disastrous.

The MIM leader offers a good opportunity tothe government to press home the point. Swift

and exemplary action against leaders like him would serve the purpose.

BJP leader Varun Gandhi is facing the musicfor his intemperate speech at an election rally.Leaders like Gujarat Chief Minister NarendraModi have ensured that the communal hatepeddlers keep their mouths shut. Theres noreason why the likes of Akbaruddin should gounpunished.

This is the opportunity for the Congress lead-ership to prove to the world that it is awake tothe aspirations of the new India and that it also wants to move beyond stale, uninspiring rheto-ric of communal leaders.


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Faux pas or prelude to Operation Polarisation?

If this is the route the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) wishes to take to spread its

wings beyond the Old city of Hyderabad, wemight all have to run for cover.

T S Sudhir, Jan 2, 2013

I f this is the route the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) wishes totake to spread its wings beyond the Oldcity of Hyderabad, we might all have to run forcover. In a two-hour long speech in Adilabaddistrict of Andhra Pradesh last week, Akbarud-din Owaisi who is the leader of the MIM legis-lature party in the Andhra Pradesh assembly,spewed venom like a wholesale dealer in themarket would sell his wares. By the ton.

For those not familiar with the party, the MIMhas its roots in the Old city area of Hyderabadand claims to be the spokesperson of the Mus-lims in the city, and Andhra Pradesh by exten-sion. It has seven MLAs in the state assemblyand one Lok Sabha MP, which is Akbars broth-er Asaduddin Owaisi. Asaduddin and Akbarud-dins father, the late Sultan Salahuddin Owaisirepresented Hyderabad in the Lok Sabha for sixconsecutive terms till 2004.

MIM had a cosy relationship with the Congress,especially during the time that Y S RajasekharaReddy held sway. His demise and Kiran Kumar

Reddys promotion to the CMs chair saw therelationship deteriorating so much so that nowthe Hyderabad brothers have vowed to nishKirans political innings.

In November, the MIM accused the CM ofsiding with the BJP and allowing work to takeplace at the Bhagyalakshmi temple abuttingthe Charminar. The party withdrew support tothe Congress over the issue and its leaders have been touring the state ever since, taking KiranKumar Reddy to the cleaners, dubbing him aMusalmanon ke dushman (enemy of the Mus-lims).

The MIM sees an opportunity for itself now inthe run-up to 2014 to grow into a pan-AndhraPradesh party, with footprints in the old Nizamdominion. It won 13 of the 25 seats it contestedin the Nanded municipal corporation electionsin October, helping it cross the border intoMaharashtra. And the present round of Hindu bashing in extremely crass language is one ofOwaisis weapons to polarise the Muslim vote

entirely in its favour and reach out to newerareas in districts outside Hyderabad.

Lawyers from the BJP have gone to court inprotest against this outburst by Akbar in whichhe spoke derisively of Hindu Gods and God-desses and the cow. What helps them is thatcutting across religious lines, the verdict is thatthe discourse was in ammatory and in extreme-ly bad taste. And that BJP leader Varun Gandhi was hauled up by the courts for a hate speech in2009.

The MIM is batting on the backfoot dealing with this self-goal that Akbaruddin Owaisi has


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scored. Sources in the party describe Akbarsspeech as a honest mistake, not somethingdeliberate and point that when good oratorsare in full ow and the crowds are enjoyingthe rhetoric, sometimes they get carried away.Considering how weak a defence that will soundin court, why not apologise and settle the is-sue? But publicly disowning the speech is not anoption the MIM wants to exercise as it fears it will lead to whispers that there are differences within the party.

Critics of the MIM like corporator AmjedullahKhan of the Majlis Bachao Tehreek (MBT) says Akbar and the MIM are playing to a script. Seetoday no one is talking about underdevelop-ment in the Old city areas. People are only dis-cussing whether Akbar will be arrested. Peopleare talking about the communal tension overBhagyalakshmi temple. All this will only helpthe MIM. I demand that the elders of the com-munity should disown Akbar. If they condemnPraveen Togadia, they should condemn Akbaralso because it is against the Holy Quran andthe teachings of Prophet Mohammed to criticiseanother religion, says Khan.

The MIM denies that the speech is a part of

Operation Polarisation. Why would we wantto antagonise the Hindu community. There isno threat to our core base. Akbars speech is notthe policy of the MIM. It is not a larger politicalgameplan. Development politics in our constitu-encies has given us political dividends and thatis our policy. We will not go back to the politicsof 1960s to 1990s, says a senior MIM leader.

Akbar who is out of the country is aware of the

uproar his speech has created, especially onthe social media. Lyricist Javed Akhtar tweeted: Mr AU Owaisi, you are the worst enemy ofIndian Muslims. your poisonous words and evilthoughts dont represent the Muslims of India.His son Farhan Akhtar asked How can 2 girls

be arrested in less than 24 hrs for a harmless FBpost but Owaisi roams free after his blatantlycommunal rant? Columnist Minhaz Merchanttweeted : Comparing Owaisi hate speech withTogadias is like Pak saying rst condemnSamjhauta, then 26/11. Dilatory tactic.

Indeed, Akbar by virtue of being an MLA oughtto have been more responsible with his tongue.To say the 25 crore Muslims in India can takecare of the 100 crore Hindus if the police stayedaway for fteen minutes, does little to distin-guish Akbar from a gully ka thug.

The criticism against the legislator is that thisis not the rst time he has violated the law. Hehas made several such provocative speeches inthe past. There are cases booked against him inseveral police stations but the police under suc-cessive governments have turned a blind eye,says Khan.

The worry is that the speech has gone viral onthe net. And it is wrong to assume that it is onlythe youth and the illiterate or the semi-literateget attracted to such a divisive narrative. Maz-her Hussain, Director of the Confederation of Voluntary Associations, which does commend-

able work in the Old city areas points out thateven elders are drawn to oratory of this kind.While the youth are in the forefront of covert violence, the covert context is provided by theelders, says Hussain.

While bigwigs of the Congress in the state havepublicly kept mum and prefer that the courtsdecide on the matter, the police does not expectany political reluctance to act against Akbar.

In his speech, Akbar dares Kiran Kumar Reddysaying Hum tujhko chain se bethne nahidenge (We will not let you remain in peace).The pity is that such verbal diarrhoea does notlet the idea of India live in peace as well.


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The politics of hate


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The BJP is hoping to polarise voters over the MLAshate speech, while MIM is hoping to get sympathy

over what they say is discrimination.The Congress stands to lose the most.


T he MIM has bowled to the BJP a well- ighted delivery that we havehit for a sixer. This was the reac-tion of a BJP leader from Andhra Pradesh, whospoke on condition that he would not be named,describing the face-off between the two parties.

Yes, there is a lot of anger and anguish overthe kind of language Akbaruddin Owaisi usedagainst our Gods and Goddesses but there isalso the realisation that there is a tremendousopportunity that we should exploit politically,

he explained.

Believe it or not, the thinking is on the samelines in the political enemy camp. The MIMadmits it is on the back foot after Owaisis arrest but now its leaders and cadre are determined toght it out, both legally and on the streets andpolarise Muslim public opinion in its favour,even outside Hyderabads Old city area.

The BJP wants to get Majlis disquali ed, we will give them a tting reply, thundered

Owaisi arrest: How the BJP and MIM hope to gain from it


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Asaduddin Owaisi, Hyderabad MP at a publicmeeting in Tandur on Saturday.

The message that is percolating down to theMIM cadre and through them, the Muslim pop-ulation, is that the rule book has been thrown attheir `Sher-e-Deccan as Akbaruddin Owaisi isreferred to by his followers, while Hindu hate-mongers like Praveen Togadia, Raj Thackerayand Narendra Modi have been treated with kidgloves. The intention is clear. Tell the Mus-lims that they are not treated on par and thatthey must rally behind the MIM to ensure theycount.

This game of one-upmanship between the BJPand the MIM is being viewed with concern byother parties, notably the Congress and theTelangana Rashtra Samiti. The TRS smells aplot in the manner in which MIM has upped theante with the hate speeches in Nizamabad and Adilabad.

The MIM, which is opposed to the formation ofa separate Telangana state, unless it is clubbed with two districts of Rayalaseema to formRayala Telangana, has all along argued that aseparate Telangana state will be a communal

hotspot with the BJP likely to pursue an aggres-sive divisive agenda to gain politically. The TRSalleges that raising the communal pitch is a YSRCongress conspiracy, outsourced to the MIM,to sabotage the chances of forming a Telanganastate when the Centres decision is round thecorner.

The BJP is shifting gears fast to maximise thegains made since 28 December, when its lawyer

led a case against Owaisis hate speech in a Hy-derabad court. The gameplan is to replicate thecampaign strategy employed in the Mahbubna-gar assembly by-election last year throughoutTelangana. In that bypoll, the BJP ran a verycommunal campaign, polarising the pro-Telan-gana vote on religious lines (TRS had elded aMuslim candidate) and won the election.

BJP strategists admit that the TRS will be a winner when it comes to getting votes on theTelangana sentiment. But the saffron partycould stand to gain if the arithmetic is altered toTelangana plus Hindutva sentiment. With thisstrategy, the BJP is trying to hurt two parties atthe same time.

The rst is the TRS, which would look at anebullient BJP with a degree of concern. Becausethe hurt over the Owaisi rhetoric has unitedevery Hindu voter who would see in the BJP both a pro-Hindu and a pro-Telangana party.In many constituencies in Telangana with asizeable Muslim voter base, polarisation of theHindu vote could bene t the BJP.

The second is the YSR Congress, that the BJPhopes, would now hesitate to get into a pre-pollalliance with the MIM, lest it loses the votesfrom the majority community. It also expectsthat Reddy community leaders, who might haveotherwise moved to Jagans camp en bloc, maynd it dif cult to justify being seen in Owaisiscompany.

Pro-BJP activists have also translated the of-fensive portions of the Owaisi hate speech

at Nirmal into Telugu and plan to distributepamphlets in every household in Telangana,to tell the people how Hindu Gods and God-desses were insulted by a Muslim leader toincite passions among the uninformed. Clearlythe Urdu to Telugu translation desk of the BJP works more ef ciently than that of the AndhraPradesh police.

Ironically, it is the ruling Congress that is the

biggest loser politically, despite the governmentnally biting the bullet on Owaisi and arrest-ing him on Tuesday evening. By not acting forseveral days, it came across as an out t tryingto save its former ally. The arrest when it hap-pened was seen as a reluctant move and gavethe impression that the party caved in underextreme pressure from the BJP and civil society.


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the MIM has looked to expand into newer areasand grow out of its base in the Old City of Hy-derabad. The present controversy presents achallenge in how to ensure Akbar, who is oneof MIMs star campaigners and orators, is notdisquali ed from ghting elections. The biggerissue is that its image has taken a beating at atime when Asaduddin Owaisi is emerging as anational Muslim leader. The party has now onceagain been branded as group of rabble-rousers who incite communal passions for the sake of votes.

The dilemma for the MIM is that it knows Ak- bars semantics, though terribly over the top, work as well. In Tandur, as soon as Asadud-din Owaisi nished speaking, an MIM leaderannounced on the mike Akbaruddin Owaisisaab ki Adilabad aur Nizamabad ki speech ki DVD bahar stall par mojood hai. Aap apne

liye ek copy khareed le. (The DVD copies ofthe speeches by Akbaruddin Owaisi at Adila- bad and Nizamabad are available on sale here,please buy a copy). The scramble that followedis a giveaway to the kind of hysterical adulation Akbar enjoys within his constituency. Ten-year-old Mehraj gushed in the crowd every Owaisimentioned Akbar, Hamare hero hai. (He isour hero)

What this episode will do is to help MIM polar-ise the Muslim vote more. If Akbar is arrestedor he surrenders in court, he will achieve martyrstatus before a crowd that already fawns overhim. It will also help the BJP make inroads intothe Old City of Hyderabad, an area that has been virtually lost to them for a decade now.The only loser will be Hyderabad that could bear the brunt of the games politicians on bothsides will play.


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All over YouTube, so why is Cong not pulling up Owaisi?

The Congress is seen as shying away from takingstrong action against Akbarudddin Owaisi. Is it

because it does not want to lose out on the political vote bank?


T he hate speech of Akbar Owaisi of theMIM party at Adilabad has generated alot of controversy but there is yet to beany severe action taken against him. In fact, hisone-time ally Abid R Khan, General Secretary, APCC almost ended up defending his actioncalling it an aberration.

There is however ample instances of Owaisigiving incendiary speeches on several ocassions,including a fatwa to behead Bangladeshi writerTaslima Nasreen.

Speaking to CNN-IBN , Abid R Khan said, Wehave already started the preliminary investiga-tion that went on for the last 10 days and thenif he is found guilty then the law will take itscourse. It is however, extremely dif cult to believe that the investigation took so much time when the video of the hate speech was circulat-ing in YouTube in the matter of an hour.

When asked if the party was hesitating in rais-ing their voice against the issue, he said, They

were a post-election alliance with the UPA. Theyhave done a lot of secular work including elect-ing a Dalit mayor in Hyderabad.

However, given the timing of the speech (withimpending General election in 2014) was thespeech communal or political?

Sandhya Jain, columnist with The Pioneer feelsit is certainly political. She said, The timing ofthe speech is very political as Narendra Modihas just won an election. According to her, thespeech becomes really communal in the country where the ground situation should be commu-nal.

She said, The ground situation allows the situ-ation to become volatile. Such speeches alsolargely encash the insecurity of the minoritycommunity and that makes it dif cult for par-ties to act against them as they fear risking theirelection prospects.They are treated with kidgloves because they are seen as political vote banks, she added.

Watch Video
http://av.firstpost.com/2013/01/104534_hate-speech_3-jan.mp4http://www.firstpost.com/


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The Owaisi saga


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Did the police slip up in Owaisi case?

The YSR Congress understandably has kept mum

on the controversy. The Telugu Desam has onlymade a feeble token condemnation.


A fter the uproar in the social and main-stream media over the hate speechdelivered by Akbaruddin Owaisi in Adi-labad district in Andhra Pradesh on 22 Decem- ber, the district police have discovered that itssleuths were not sleeping. They had also appar-ently recorded the entire two-hour long speech by the MLA of the All India Majlis-e-IttehadulMuslimeen (AIMIM) legislature party. Whenasked why no one took note of the in ammatorycontent, each police source had a different ver-sion to offer.

One said none of the intelligence of cerspresent at the meeting could follow AkbarsUrdu. Another said as the speech was deliveredin chaste Urdu, it took time to get it translatedinto Telugu and English before it could be sub-mitted to senior of cers.

Yet another said the intelligence cops had sub-mitted a report to the higher-ups but had done apoor job in highlighting the more offensive por-tions. They had reportedly stressed on the factthat the crowd was very appreciative of Akbarsoratory and that Owaisi junior had touched

upon the demolition of the Babri Masjid in hisspeech. No one therefore took a second look ata speech that was only talking about a 20-year-old issue.

A fourth version, that looks more closer to thetruth is that it was only when the BJP lawyer went to court on 28 December and the issue hitthe headlines that the Adilabad police woke upand realised that they had slipped up badly.

So late on the night of 2 January, the Nirmal po-lice in Adilabad led a case under Section 153A,charging Owaisi with promoting enmity be-tween two religious communities. Neighbouring

district Nizamabad, where Akbar had report-edly spoken in a similar vein on 8 December,also led a case against him yesterday evening.Meanwhile, a city court in Hyderabad on Thurs-day asked the city police to le a case, based ona complaint by a local.

All this proved that Bollywood was always right.That the police reach only at the end.

Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy has been onsilent mode on the hate speech in which there were several barbs directed at him, except to saythat law will take its own course. In this case, by taking a 10-day course, the Andhra Pradeshpolices image has taken a beating.

That is a view shared by many senior IPS of c-ers who have worked in communally sensitivehotspots like the Old city of Hyderabad. Pri- vately, they admit that by taking a long time toensure the law of the land prevails, the policelooked as if it was totally unaware of what hadhappened under its nose. The police shouldhave taken suo motu action instead of wait-


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ing for someone to le a case, says an of cer who has spent many years in the state intelli-gence department. By keeping quiet, the policelooked as if we were not keen on taking action.

This is a charge Andhra Pradesh police chief V Dinesh Reddy denies. He says seeking legalopinion on the sensitive speech took time, argu-ing that the police have to be careful when deal-ing with a case involving public representatives.

What he leaves unsaid is that the legal opinion was taken only after 28 December. But since aBJP person had gone to court, it meant the po-lice had to be careful that it was not just anothercase of political tu tu mein mein. It also hadto study thoroughly the legal provisions under which Owaisi could be booked, lest it fall be-tween two stools.

The interpretation is very important in suchcases. Whether the speechs contents could leadto people getting instigated to indulge in vio-lence, explains MV Bhaskara Rao, former Di-rector General of Andhra Pradesh police. Thepolice has to check every controversial sentenceand examine if it is not transgressing on theindividuals freedom of speech. The mala de

intention has to be established.

But to reduce this case to just another policeFIR, would be to ignore the signi cance of theumbilical cord that stays intact between differ-ent political out ts. The MIM was a Congressally until November, and even though the Ow-aisis snapped ties with the party, HyderabadMP Asaduddin Owaisi has several powerfulfriends in the ruling party in Delhi on speeddial. In recent months, Owaisi has emerged asa leading national Muslim leader and the Con-gress leadership would still want him on itsside. And given his proximity to JaganmohanReddy, Owaisi could also help in forging politi-cal friendships before or after elections.

The YSR Congress understandably has keptmum on the controversy. The Telugu Desam hasonly made a feeble token condemnation indicat-ing that with the election season approaching,the Owaisis will not be political untouchables.

On the record, the police denies any politicalinterference. The proof of the pudding will be inthe eating and it will be seen if this controversialcase too suffers the fate of several other casesregistered against Akbaruddin Owaisi that aregathering dust in different police stations.


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Hate speech:Police arrest MIM leader Owaisi

The mere fact that the latest spectrum auctions

opped does not mean A Raja was right with his pricing or that there was no big 2G scam.

PTI, Jan 8, 2013

H yderabad: Majlis-e-Ittehadul Mus-limeen (MIM) MLA Akbaruddin Owai-si, facing multiple cases for his allegedhate speech, was today arrested by AndhraPradesh Police.

Owaisi, who was subjected to medical examina-tion at the Gandhi Hospital here for his tnessstatus, is expected to be taken to Nirmal townin Adilabad district, where a case was registeredagainst him for the alleged provocative speech.

He arrived from London yesterday and hadsought four days to appear before the policeon medical grounds. He was also booked un-der relevant sections of IPC by Nizamabad andOsmania University police here for the allegedhate speeches.

As he failed to appear before Nirmal Policeon health grounds yesterday, investigat-ing of cer of Nirmal (Rural) A Raghu vis-ited Owaisis house in Banjara Hills here lastevening and found that he looked t to face

questioning,police sources said.However, Owaisi complained of internal painand hence was subjected to medical examina-tion by government doctors at Gandhi Hospitaltoday. After getting the medical report, policedecided on his arrest, they said.

It was still not clear whether he would be pro-duced before a magistrate in Hyderabad ortaken to Nirmal town. Police was tight-lippedabout the future course of action as they fear itmay create law and order problem.

As the news of his arrest spread, hundreds ofMIM workers and his supporters gathered infront of Gandhi Hospital. Police had a toughtime in controlling the protesters and prevent-ing them from gatecrashing into the hospital.

Police have already intensi ed security arrange-

ments in the city, particularly in Old City astronghold of MIM by deploying additionalforces as a precautionary measure.


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Owaisi hopes for HC relief,supporters damage media vans

The mere fact that the latest spectrum auctions

opped does not mean A Raja was right with his pricing or that there was no big 2G scam.


A kbaruddin Owaisi, who has been re-manded to 14 days in judicial custodyfor his communal speech, is hopingfor relief from the Andhra Pradesh High courttoday where two petitions challenging his arrest

could come up for hearing. However, his sup-porters werent willing to wait for the result ofthe hearing and protested against his arrest bydamaging vans belonging to news media outletsthat had gone to Adilabad to cover the news ofhis arrest.

Owaisi, a state legislator representing the AllIndia Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), wasarrested yesterday in a Hyderabad hospital andtaken to Adilabad. He was produced before acourt where he was remanded to judicial cus-tody for 14 days.

His supporters turned on media vans in Adi-labad today and damaged windshields of the vehicles with stones, CNN-IBN reported.

The police has imposed prohibitory orders in Adilabad following the MLAs arrest.

Three FIRs have been led against Owaisifor his alleged use of in ammatory languageagainst a particular community in speeches hemade at public gatherings in December 2012.The speeches were widely shared on socialnetworks and it was only after outrage follow-ing the speeches that the cases were registeredagainst him.

He has been charged under the following sec-

tions:

Section 295 A : Deliberate and malicious acts,intended to outrage religious feelings or anyclass by insulting its religion or religious beliefs.

Section 298 : Uttering words, etc., with delib-erate intent to wound religious feelings

Section 153 A : Promoting enmity between dif-ferent groups on grounds of religion, race, place

of birth, residence, language, etc., and doingacts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony

Section 121 : Waging, or attempting to wage war, or abetting waging of war, against the Gov-ernment of India

Owaisi was arrested amidst high drama yes-terday from a Hyderabad hospital where he was taken for a check-up, after he claimed he was un t and sought time to appear before thepolice.

The MIM legislator had earlier gone to Londonfor treatment after the cases were led againsthim.

Watch Video
http://av.firstpost.com/2013/01/144132_owaisiinjail-preetphnr-1.mp4http://www.firstpost.com/


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Andhra HC dismisses petitionto remove Owaisis speeches

from YouTube A division bench comprising Sanjay Kumar and

L Narasimha Reddy said the court could not interfereas the matter relates to freedom of expression

IANS, Jan 9, 2013

The Andhra Pradesh high court has dis-

missed a petition seeking directionsto YouTube to remove controversial

speeches of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen(MIM) leader Akbaruddin Owaisi from thepopular website.

A division bench comprising Sanjay Kumar and

L Narasimha Reddy said the court could not

interfere as the matter relates to freedom ofexpression. The court advised the petitioner tomove the YouTube of ce in New York, if he hadany objection to the sites content.

JVS Rama Rao, an advocate, had led the peti-tion on the basis that that the circulation of thealleged hate speeches over YouTube might cre-ate law and order problems.

The petitioner said the speeches were highlyin ammatory and hurt the sentiments of theHindu community.

Akbaruddin Owaisi, a member of the AndhraPradesh assembly, was arrested on Tuesday inconnection with a speech he had made at Nir-mal town in Adilabad district.

A court in Nirmal sent him to judicial custodyfor 14 days.


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Hate Speech.pdf

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Transcript of Hate Speech.pdf