Asaduddin Owaisi writes for DC: MIM protected identity of Muslims

Hyderabad, March 20: The Majlis-e-Ittahadul Muslimeen (MIM) recently celebrated the 51st year of revival. Its continuous political journey has been a historic one It was on March 2, 1958, that Moulana Abdul Wahed Owaisi revived the party. At that time, the condition of Muslims was bad, just after the Police Action.

But with great magnanimity, he took up the responsibility of taking the community forward with the main objective of ensuring their representation in the Assembly and Parliament, and the Indian polity as a whole. The MIM proved beyond doubt that a political outfit does not work only to come to power but can also play a major role in the development of the community.

It was the first party to have taken up the cause of reservations to Muslims in 1970. The MIM also won credibility among Muslims by establishing several educational institutions and has survived the rough and tumble of politics to serve people with vigour and energy.
In the present general elections, the MIM is confident of carrying out the unfinished task of Salar, the late Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi, by increasing its number of seats in Assembly.

After several representations from the MIM, the state government sanctioned a sewerage network of Rs 310 crore for the old city. The work on this has already begin.
Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu visited the old city 26 times during his nine-year term as Chief Minister but hardly gave Rs 1 crore, whereas Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy came there only once as Chief Minister and announced a Rs 2,000 crore package for its development, of which works worth Rs 400 crore are already in progress.

Also, the MIM spends around Rs 2 lakh every month for strengthening the government Urdu schools. The basic aim of the MIM is to politically empower the minorities and weaker sections in general, and the Muslims in particular. In fact, people who had opposed the revival of the MIM 50 years back are now saying that Muslims should have a separate political identity in the country.

Even in trying circumstances during communal riots and hate campaigns, it was the MIM that stood like a rock behind Muslims against all communal forces.