‘South India sitting on powder keg’: Owaisi on Women’s Reservation Bill

In this interview with DH's Sumit Pande, the Asaduddin Owaisi explains his party’s stand on Women’s Reservation Bill and warns that the entire south India is sitting on the powder keg on the delimitation issue.

AIMIM was the only party that voted against the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

In this interview with DH's Sumit Pande, the Hyderabad MP and party leader Asaduddin Owaisi explains his party’s stand and warns that the entire south India is sitting on the powder keg on the delimitation issue which is linked to the implementation of the bill.

How will history judge you for opposing the bill?  

Well, remember the picture of a lone protestor at Tiananmen Square who stood to stop a battery of tanks. 20 or 50 years down the line when people read parliamentary debates, they shouldn’t think about why our leaders did not stand up and oppose it. Yes, the BJP had the majority, but otherwise, how do you register when injustice is being done to OBC and Muslim women?

While opposing the bill, you said only 25 Muslim women have been elected to the Lok Sabha since Independence. But the fact is that most of them were from political families. Don’t you think that within the community there is no push to give adequate representation to women?

The reason for under-representation is that national and regional parties have not given tickets to the community. I agree those women who have been elected have come from a political background. But when you bring in legislation to give more representation to women then how can you deny the same to the community that has the lowest representation in the legislature?

Since there is no constitutional provision for reservations on religious lines, any provision to that effect would have been struck down in legal scrutiny?

Was there a constitutional provision to provide reservations to the economically weaker sections? No. It was upheld by the Supreme Court. Don’t go by what was there and not there. Let us go by the principle that there should not be any discrimination. The right to equality should be there, fraternity should be created, and justice should be done. If you go by these principles, then the government is duty-bound to include Muslim and OBC women.

What sort of timeline do you see for the implementation of the bill?

First the census has to be done and then delimitation will follow. And I can tell you with responsibility that south India is on a powder keg. You can’t punish those states in south India who have done well in family planning and population control. That will be a huge obstacle to cross.

Will you have a pre-poll alliance with BRS in Telangana?

We have never had a pre-poll tie-up with the BRS. Not this time also. But we want KCR to become the CM for the third time. We would request the people of Telangana to bless KCR. But wherever our party contests, we would work to ensure our candidate becomes the MLA. At the same time, KCR has done tremendous work for the development of Telangana.

Congress alleges that AIMIM, BRS, and BJP have a tacit understanding.

Did Rahul Gandhi lose Amethi because of me? Or win Wayanad because of Hindu votes. If the leader of the national party is not being able to decipher why his party is losing, then I leave it to his wisdom.