MiM MP Asaduddin Owaisi :Taslima is a threat to Peace

MiM Floor Leader Akbaruddin Owaisi Speaking to Mediapersons Outside City Court with MiM MLA's who were out on bail after being Arrested over there Protest on blasphemous writer Taslima Nasreen in Hyderabad.

Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MiM) is in the news for an attack on Taslima Nasreen by three of its MLAs. Asaduddin Owaisi, leader of MiM and MP from Hyderabad who is in Chicago ,USA says that it was not an attack but a protest against Taslima’s actions. Kashif-ul-huda of TwoCircles.net spoke to him about this incident.

TwoCircles.Net: Would you comment on the recent attack on Taslima Nasreen in Hyderabad?

Asad Owaisi: I disagree that it was an attack; it was a public protest against an individual who is not an Indian citizen, and who has been given refugee status in India. She has a habit of ridiculing Islam and making fun of the Prophet of Islam (pbuh). We wanted to lodge a peaceful democratic protest against her. Unfortunately the organizers did not listen to our viewpoint that resulted in the assault of press people who were there, which we regret.

We have a democratic right to protest her and protest her visit. We feel that she is a great threat to the peace of not only Hyderabad but to India as well. Her writing has always created fissures and divisions within the community.

I feel that Indian government should deport her by classifying her persona non grata. Through her writing she is creating division between Hindus and Muslims by exploiting freedom that she has in India. India will be better off if such persons are not allowed to live in India.

TCN: She has been living in India for some time now, what was the need for this protest now?

AO: Once again, I would like to correct you that if you follow my parliamentary speeches, one speech that I gave, two months ago, in the last parliament session. It was on the topic of internal security; in that debate, I demanded that she should be deported and she should follow in the footsteps of Dalai Lama, who has come to India in 1950. He has an animosity towards China but has never used Indian territory to propagate anything against China. He was given Nobel peace prize.

Taslima Nasreen should have followed Dalai Lama, how graciously he lived in India. Taslima is disliked not only by Muslims but also by secular Hindus.
Can you tell me what the importance of Taslima Nasreen is? What is her contribution to literature? She is famous because she is anti-Islam and she ridicules Prophet Mohammed (pbuh).

TCN: Don’t you think that attacks like these put her in the limelight and give her more press coverage?

AO: May be you are right, but we wanted to get our message across to the government of India, we wanted the people to know. Hyderabad has long history of harmony between communities we don’t want this environment to get polluted.

The most important point, which has not got highlighted, is that the organizers are known Hindutva and Sangh Parivar members. They did not even inform the local police. They didn’t inform central agencies that she will be in Hyderabad. We are just fortunate that we came to know when this function was about to end. We decided immediately that we should protest her visit. We wanted the message to go to Indian government and Indian people that this person has no other work apart from nuisance, creating division, provoking Muslims by hurting their religious sentiments. At least now she knows that she can get away with nonsense things that she has said in the past.

TCN: Will you take your protest outside Hyderabad?

AO: We are requesting all right thinking people, all secular minded people that we should be together on this. It is not a question of only Muslims coming out to protest. We want all the people to come out. India is famous for its pluralism. India is famous for having good relations among all the communities.

It is one of the countries of the world where you can find all the religion that are in the world. We want to maintain the pluralism that India has given to the world. So I hope that people should protest against her and government of India understand and respect the wishes of the people and take action against her.

TCN: One of your legislators Muqtada Afasr Khan is reported to have said that if Taslima comes to the city again, she will be killed. What do you say about this?

AO: This is wrongly reported, what he said that if she comes again we will launch a very organized and strong protest against her. If anything happens to her then the responsibility will lie with the state government and the state machinery.

The consequences will be draconian. Words have been attributed to our MLA that he never said, he only mentioned the strong protest that Majlis will organize and if any thing goes wrong consequences will lie with the government. This is what he said, but the local media has twisted and added flavour and attributed something to him that he never said.

TCN: How justified is it for a political party like MiM to take up this issue which is basically religious in nature?

AO: Indian Penal Code 153(a) clearly states that it is an offence to create amongst different religious communities. Indian Constitution gives me this right that to ensure that no animosity takes place between different religious communities. Our launching of protest against Taslima Nasreen is that she has to be stopped in initial stages. If she continues with her divisive writings in the guise of freedom of expression this will lead to more friction among Hindus and Muslims and different communities.

I am for freedom of expression; I am for freedom of press. But every freedom has some limitation; one should not cross those limitations. What we are saying is that, I want the whole world to understand that as far as Muslims are concerned, you can criticize my action, you can criticize my policies, you can criticize my parents and my profession but there is a limit. You can not criticize my Prophet Mohammed (pbuh), that is my identity. You can not criticize him, you can not ridicule him. You can not commit blasphemy against him. Various countries of the world have religious laws that e.g. there are many Christian countries that have laws that say that you can not commit acts of blasphemy against Jesus.

How can you ridicule Prophet Mohammed Pbuh, which is an integral part of our faith. As faras Muslims are concerned, my faith is not complete unless and until I have the utmost respect for my Prophet. This needs to be understood from Muslims’ point of view.
This is not a question of freedom of expression; this is not a question of taking law into our hands. We hope that people understand it from our view point.

TCN: How is your action different than actions that Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena takes against writers and artists?

AO: My party is not a fascist party but they have a record of hurting different minorities and they have been involved in various riots, which has been corroborated by various commissions and fact-finding committees.

If we really wanted to really harm her (Taslima Nasreen), there was no stopping. It’s just that we came to know that she is in Hyderabad. Her whole visit was done in a very surreptitious way. If it was done in an open way, we would have lodged our protest in a more organized way and I am sure this would not have happened.

Courtesy (http://www.indianmuslims.info/)