Welfare Party of India (WPI), Andhra Pradesh President, Mr. Malik Motasim Khan talks about the launch of the party in AP, power of the people, RTI and Telangana issue during a conversation with SM Fasiullah in Hyderabad.
Please tell us about yourself?
I belong to Adilabad District and currently residing in Nizamabad – both are in the Telangana region. Despite having rich natural resources, Adilabad has been one of the backward districts in India. I have seen hardships of being a resident of a backward district. Though major political parties had their representatives from Adilabad from time to time, but no one has really worked for the overall development of the district. False promise was their mantra to fool people. Now I am in a better place from where I can serve the people of Andhra Pradesh.
How do you distinguish your party from other mainstream political parties?
We have numerous political parties in the country, but unfortunately they are not driven by people-friendly ideology and lack proper vision for overall development – which make them mere technical parties. For them, coming to power and retaining it has become the sole motto. They are least bothered about the welfare of the people of this country.
In addition, people have become aware of scams, criminal records of politicians, and incidents such as porn watching in the assembly. People don’t like to see criminals and corrupt persons as their political leaders. Time has come for a positive change, which people are desirous to see in politics. WPI strives for value-based politics in India, and it will field only those candidates who prove their commitment to the values and vision of the party. We will work for the overall development of the society.
What’s your idea of ‘overall development’?
There’s much debate on development on social network sites, particularly when general elections are expected next year. India is a developing country. But there’re two sides of the development story as well. If education, employment, poverty, etc. are considered then India appears to be a poor nation. In terms of wealth we are a rich country, but overall people are poor. At one side we have billionaires and on other side a huge number of people can’t afford even single meal a day. There’s a wide disparity in the country in this regard. We believe in inclusive development wherein the focus would be on the development of people from various aspects. Nowadays, paid workers of some politicians are busy in projecting only partial picture of development on social networks. People can use RTI (Right to Information) to extract full information from various government departments and judge their leaders in a better way.
What’s your strategy of coming to power?
People are power – better informed they are, more powerful they become. We believe that leading people by keeping them in dark or misleading them is dishonesty. Our party will empower people by educating them on various social issues and encouraging them to make use of RTI to be informed. Meanwhile, we plan to continue welfare activities for the people of this country and remain stick to value-based politics. Plans are in place for an official launch of the party in the state on 26 May 2013.
How do you see Telangana as an issue?
I myself belong to the Telangana region. But let me clarify that the Telangana issue and TRS are two different things. For me, it’s not a political issue, rather a social issue. The region has been a victim of injustice since the inception of the state. It’s neither an issue of self-respect nor of regionalism, as popularized. In addition to the formation of a separate state, a systematic and comprehensive action plan is required to develop the region. Also, the government should come up with plans and strategies for the development of other under-developed regions of the state as well.
