The Hyderabad Member of Parliament, Barrister Asaduddin Owaisi, is not scared of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who listens like a meek lamb when Owaisi roars in the Lok Sabha. But at home, he is a careful lion and treads cautiously. Here, the Lioness Farheen Owaisi’s roar is louder! English has beautiful and apt expressions like ‘the better half.’ Farheen Owaisi is Asaduddin Owaisi’s better half in the real sense. Though Asaduddin Owaisi is not a hen-pecked husband, Farheen Owaisi throws her weight around. The fond husband is a gentleman who allows her liberty and mentions anecdotes about her sometimes.
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s hardcore leader Narendra Modi’s conspiracy to get the Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat reserved for women in the 2029 Lok Sabha polls is to avoid not seeing Asaduddin Owaisi in Lok Sabha. This stems from his hate for ‘Muslim leadership’ of any kind in the country. Against this backdrop, the All India Majlis Ittehad ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) may be preparing for the eventuality of the Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat being reserved for women. There is nothing wrong with this except the intentions of the mentally constipated politician.
The name of the game is ‘political ethnic cleansing of Muslims’ started by the bigoted Captain Narendra Modi. Muslim majority constituencies are either bifurcated or trifurcated and merged along with neighboring majority areas or reserved for the SCs, STs, and women. This game was successfully played in Gujarat, Assam, Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, and other states. Rookie political fast bowler Rahul Gandhi is trying to upstage Narendra Modi by making Muslim representation almost zero, or at the very least assigning one or two seats, like in the Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls. Not a single ticket for Muslims by the Congress in Mizoram! In Madhya Pradesh, it is Kamal versus Kamal. Both the lotuses are poisonous—the BJP’s lotus and Congress’ lotus—Kamalnath.’
As a journalist and a feminist, I can say with absolute conviction that women have been disrobed for centuries—from Draupadi to Jayalalitha—in the royal court and the democratic Legislative Assembly. With such men, do women have a chance at power? At least a beginning is made to reserve seats for women. Indian women have the caliber and charisma to excel in politics, and Indira Gandhi has proved a point in this regard. There are not just statesmen but stateswomen too. The myopic patriarchy should open its eyes and ears to acknowledge women’s marvelous contribution to politics.
Coming back to the Farheen Owaisi and Telangana Assembly polls, the political horizons will warm up if Farheen Owaisi is fielded by Majlis from their often family-held seat in the iconic Charminar. Farheen Owaisi checks all the right boxes. She does not take anything at face value until she is convinced. Even when Asaduddin Owaisi went home to tell her that his vehicle was shot at, Farheen took it with a pinch of salt. The loving husband was not enraged but politely asked her to switch on the television and watch the news for confirmation. Asaduddin Owaisi himself disclosed about this incident to the media in a humorous way: “Goli se bach gaya, lekin biwi ki tirchhi nazar se bachna mushkil hai (I survived the bullet, but it is difficult to escape my wife’s suspicious glances).” This tirchi nazar is very much needed in politics. Do not believe what your opponents and even friends say. Politics is the art of double-entendre. What is being said will have double meanings or different meanings for different politicians.
One may ask, Why Farheen Owaisi only? Why not other women? Majlis has some very hard-working and able women leaders who are municipal corporators. Are they ready to take the big plunge? With loyalties changing overnight, Majlis can hardly take the risk of nominating others. It has already burned its fingers in Bihar. It is another matter that the culprits there were men. Even Lal Krishna Advani met his match in the challenging Uma Bharati.
Farheen Owaisi knows Asaduddin Owaisi inside and out, both literally and metaphorically. She must have surely learned the tricks of the political trade by now. She will give a piece of her mind to her opponents and chastise the Daru Master of Telangana when needed. She started this on day 1 in the Owaisi household. Former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu wanted Asaduddin Owaisi not to be present when an important bill was to be passed in the Assembly. Naidu slated the Assembly session for the next morning of Asaduddin’s marriage. But Asaduddin dutifully went to the Assembly the next morning after his marriage and surprised and scuttled Naidu’s machinations. But the dutiful Asaduddin was confronted by the beautiful bride Farheen as to why he left her alone for so many hours immediately a few hours after marriage. There were no firecrackers on the day of the marriage. But there were Phul Chadis on the next day in full measure. Who says Sivakasi Fireworks is in Tamil Nadu?
There may not be many discipline problems with the legislators and the cadre with Farheen Owaisi’s mere presence in Darussalam, the party headquarters. The political language will be used much less. Women will be respected. The discourse of some of the legislators and the corporators will be in check. For the unversed, Bhain is the corrupt form of Bahen (sister) in the Deccani dialect.
Only time will answer if Majlis will unleash Lioness Farheen Owaisi in the 2023 Telangana Legislative Assembly polls to prepare her for the 2029 Lok Sabha elections. Behind every successful man, there is a woman. Behind every political party’s success, there have been women — Indira Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Mayawati, Jayalalitha, and Mamata Banerjee. Why not Farheen Owaisi now? Asaduddin Owaisi should say without any hesitation: Saathi Haath Badhaana …Ek Akela Thak Jayega, Milkar Bojh Uthhana.
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