TURMOIL IN MUSLIM ORGANIZATIONS IS HARMING ALL INDIAN MUSLIMS

TURMOIL IN MUSLIM ORGANIZATIONS IS HARMING ALL INDIAN MUSLIMS By: Kaleem Kawaja It is no secret that today India's Muslim community needs much help from the Community's major organizations and parties in order to lobby with the government and political parties to develop and implement programs to uplift the much depressed and backward community. There are about a half dozen such organizations in India that are more than fifty years old, that have much credibility with the Muslims as well as the government, the majority Hindu community, media and the nation's power structure. Over the years India's major political parties have sought the help of these organizations in the electoral arena. Thus when the average Muslims in India hear of intense turmoil, infighting and cut-throat power struggle in the top leadership of these organizations, that shocks them. Such turmoil also reveal some basic structural problems in these venerable and respected organizations. Some of the problems that have come to the surface are: certain family's dynastic stranglehold on these organizations; certain individual's dictatorial control on these organizations; inability of the ordinary members of these organizations to rise to the top leadership on the basis of merit and service. In the last few years we have watched at least three major Muslim organizations of Muslims in India go through serious turmoil. The Muslim Majlis Mashawarat of New Delhi experienced turmoil about two years ago in which a segment of Mashawarat split from the parent body and formed a separate organization laying claim to the parent Mashawarat. Majlis Ittihad Muslameen (MIM), Hyderabad, experienced major problem a few years ago when in 1993 a section of MIM broke away to form the Masjid Bachao Tahreek. Now we see the venerable Jamiat ul Ulema Hind, New Delhi, split due to intense power struggle between its President and General Secretary. In the case of Mashawarat, those who broke away are people of credibility, with the media reporting that they were encouraged by some Muslim politicians from South India who were being shut out by North Indian Muslim leaders from the top rungs of the organization' s leadership. In the case of MIM the stranglehold of the Owaisi family on the organization for three generations, and their domination of the top rungs of MIM leadership is cited as the reason for the turmoil in MIM. Currently one Owaisi is an MIM member of parliament and another is a member of Andhra Pradesh Assembly representing MIM. Their father Salahuddin Owaisi was the long time MIM President and member of parliament from Hyderabad, who ensured that his various sons became top leaders of MIM in their young age. And their grandfather was a long time Head of MIM. In fact the resentment of this total dynastic control of MIM has become so serious that Hyderabad's major Urdu newspaper Siasat is openly building opposition to MIM in the community in Hyderabad city. The Masjid Bachao Tahrik accused MIM of not being orthodox enough in defending the religious rights of Muslims. That resulted in MIM adopting several uncalled for sectarian programs. Some recent instances are: Physical attacks in public on Tasleema Nasreen, and public agitation forcing the government to ban the showing of the movie "The Messengar" on the life of prophet Mohammad in movie houses in Hyderabad. In the case of Jamiat ul Ulema, again the souce of the problem is the stranglehold of the Madani family on Jamiat's top leadership for three generations. About 90 years ago Maulana Husain Madani was among the founders of Jsmiat who reigned as its President for many years. He was succeded by Maulana Asad Madani as the Head of Jsmiat for many years. Asad Madani who died last year ensured in his lifetime that his brother and various sons acquired top leadership positions in Jamiat. After his death his brother Arshad Madani became the President and his son Mahmood Madani became the General Secretary of Jamiat. Since then the Madani uncle and nephew have been involved in cut-throat power struggle to become the sole power in Jamiat. That led to the recent fireworks and split of Jamiat itself. About ten years ago the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) whose following is largely in Kerala and Tamil Nadu experienced a similar blowup in its top leadership. That resulted in a split in IUML and the formation of the National League led by Sulaiman Sait, the long time Head of IUML Such turmoil in the top rungs of India's major Muslim organizations greatly demoralizes rank and file members of these organizations. It creates much loss of credibility, following in the community and their ability to represent the Muslim community and negotiate on behalf of the community on the serious issues of the community. The net looser is the entire Muslim community in India whose interests are seriously harmed. It appears that bringing more internal democracy in the Muslim organizations and doing away with the dynastic control of the organizations by certain families can go a long way in removing the buildup of internal frustrations that result in periodic blowups. Another useful step will be term limits for the heads of these organizations.

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The writer is a community activist in Washington DC. He can be reached on mailto:kaleemkawaja@hotmail.com