08-20-2007, 02:32 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Paper barons to take on MIM </b>
Pioneer.com
Omer Farooq | Hyderabad
Siasat editor launches political outfit, Munsif extends support
The peculiar politics of Hyderabad, which for almost six decades was dominated by the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), has taken a new turn with the editor of leading Urdu daily Siasat Zahed Ali Khan taking a plunge. But interestingly, he chose Chicago in US, which has a sizeable number of Hyderabadis, to announce the launch of his People's Democratic Front to take on the MIM. If this was not enough, another rival Urdu daily Munsif has also extended its support to the move with its editor Lateef Mohammed Khan giving a call to the people to support the new outfit to teach a lesson to the MIM.
<b>Zahed Ali Khan, in his address to the gathering of Hyderbadis in Chicago, hoped that his front would get support from the Left parties as well as MIM's rival organisation Majlis Bachao Tehreek (MBT). He said that he was forced to enter politics because of the failure of the MIM in solving the problems of the Muslim community. He said that his front would be on the lines of Muslim Democratic Front of Assam and it would contest 100 Assembly seats.</b>
There are also indications that Zahid Ali Khan himself will contest from the Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency, which has traditionally been a stronghold of MIM winning the seat since 1984.
<b>The proposed formation of the Front is the culmination of almost three-year-long campaign run by two Urdu dailies in tandem with the Left parties against the MIM in Hyderabad. It was in response to this campaign that the Owaisi family had launched its own Urdu daily Etemaad one-and-a-half years ago. </b>
The main grouse of the two newspapers like many other opponents is that the MIM is ruled by a single family - Owaisis. While father Salahuddin Owaisi is the president of MIM, his eldest son is the Member of Parliament and younger son is the leader of the five-member legislative group in the State Assembly.
Lateef Khan, addressing a group of his supporters in Hyderabad, welcomed the move of Zahid Ali Khan and alleged that the MIM had exploited the Muslim community for its own benefit and amassed crores of rupees.
<b>The issue of the Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen has also triggered a holier than thou race with each trying to surpass the other in targeting, condemning and threatening the writer. Ironically, while the Left parties condemned the attack on Taslima, the two Urdu newspapers have condemned the MIM for its attack being half-hearted.</b>
With both the Left parties, CPI and CPI(M), already making inroads into the old city with the help of the two Urdu newspapers, the Muslim-dominated old city of Hyderabad seems to be all set to witness a no-holds-barred fight even before the next elections.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Why Chicago? Is it because SIMI founder is in Chicago? or Chicago is new cradle for Islamic Jihadism?
Pioneer.com
Omer Farooq | Hyderabad
Siasat editor launches political outfit, Munsif extends support
The peculiar politics of Hyderabad, which for almost six decades was dominated by the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), has taken a new turn with the editor of leading Urdu daily Siasat Zahed Ali Khan taking a plunge. But interestingly, he chose Chicago in US, which has a sizeable number of Hyderabadis, to announce the launch of his People's Democratic Front to take on the MIM. If this was not enough, another rival Urdu daily Munsif has also extended its support to the move with its editor Lateef Mohammed Khan giving a call to the people to support the new outfit to teach a lesson to the MIM.
<b>Zahed Ali Khan, in his address to the gathering of Hyderbadis in Chicago, hoped that his front would get support from the Left parties as well as MIM's rival organisation Majlis Bachao Tehreek (MBT). He said that he was forced to enter politics because of the failure of the MIM in solving the problems of the Muslim community. He said that his front would be on the lines of Muslim Democratic Front of Assam and it would contest 100 Assembly seats.</b>
There are also indications that Zahid Ali Khan himself will contest from the Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency, which has traditionally been a stronghold of MIM winning the seat since 1984.
<b>The proposed formation of the Front is the culmination of almost three-year-long campaign run by two Urdu dailies in tandem with the Left parties against the MIM in Hyderabad. It was in response to this campaign that the Owaisi family had launched its own Urdu daily Etemaad one-and-a-half years ago. </b>
The main grouse of the two newspapers like many other opponents is that the MIM is ruled by a single family - Owaisis. While father Salahuddin Owaisi is the president of MIM, his eldest son is the Member of Parliament and younger son is the leader of the five-member legislative group in the State Assembly.
Lateef Khan, addressing a group of his supporters in Hyderabad, welcomed the move of Zahid Ali Khan and alleged that the MIM had exploited the Muslim community for its own benefit and amassed crores of rupees.
<b>The issue of the Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen has also triggered a holier than thou race with each trying to surpass the other in targeting, condemning and threatening the writer. Ironically, while the Left parties condemned the attack on Taslima, the two Urdu newspapers have condemned the MIM for its attack being half-hearted.</b>
With both the Left parties, CPI and CPI(M), already making inroads into the old city with the help of the two Urdu newspapers, the Muslim-dominated old city of Hyderabad seems to be all set to witness a no-holds-barred fight even before the next elections.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Why Chicago? Is it because SIMI founder is in Chicago? or Chicago is new cradle for Islamic Jihadism?