With assembly elections round the corner in Tamil Nadu, the opposition DMK camp seems jittery. The party, which was allegedly linked to actor Rajinikanth’s decision to not enter active politics, has stirred up yet another controversy after it extended an invitation to AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi to attend its conference on January 6 at the YMCA ground in Chennai. The DMK's decision has upset all the Muslim parties in the alliance.
DMK minorities welfare wing secretary D. Masthan has denied any invitation to Owaisi. However, a video of Masthan, along with a few other Muslim representatives of the DMK minority wing, and AIMIM’s state president Vakkil Ahamed has gone viral on social media.
On Friday, Masthan and Ahamed reportedly went to Hyderabad to invite Owaisi for the meeting in Chennai. In the video, Owaisi, in the presence of Masthan and others, is seen talking over phone about DMK’s invitation. “We have not invited Owaisi for the meeting. We have not extended invitation to any Muslim parties, which are not part of our alliance,” Masthan said in the statement.
The AIMIM doesn’t command a vote bank in Tamil Nadu like in Bihar or Hyderabad. Owaisi, particularly after the Bihar elections, was criticized by the Muslim parties in Tamil Nadu for splitting the opposition votes. He was even called as the “B Team” of the BJP. Caricatures of Owaisi wearing RSS’s traditional brown stretched trousers also went viral on social media. But on the other side there were a few voices in support of Owaisi, saying the Urudu speaking Muslims in the state will stand by AIMIM.
However, the DMK’s act is being viewed critically by its own Muslim partners in the alliance. “This is nothing but the handiwork of the right-wing supporters in our own party,” says a senior leader in the DMK on conditions of anonymity. He says that Owaisi’s presence will only bring down the morale of the Muslim cadres in the party and also the other Muslim parties in the alliance. He says that the Muslims in Tamil Nadu are basically not fundamental in nature. The IUML in Tamil Nadu, he says, is not fundamental but has always travelled with the Dravidian ideologies.
It may be recalled that in 1962, the very first time the DMK went for an electoral alliance, it was with the IUML presided by Quaide-Millath. In fact, in Tamil Nadu, the Muslim parties are not looked at as Muslim fundamentalists by the majority Hindus. Though the Muslims in the state are religiously polarized, they are not politically polarized. Apparently, the Muslims in the state vote differently when it comes to state elections in different constituencies.
“It is not wrong in our party leadership thinking that we should get the support of Owaisi. But before that the Muslims in the party as well as the Muslim parties in the alliances should have been consulted and taken into confidence. This is because only people like us can make Owaisi, outside of Tamil Nadu, understand the psyche of the community here,” the leader points out.
