On 14th November, Hyderabad-based Muslim organisation Tahreek Muslim Shabban (TMS) officially announced its support for Congress in the upcoming 2023 Telangana Assembly Elections. The organisation’s president, Mushtaq Mallik, extended support to the Congress party at a press conference and tabled a 13-point “Charter of Demands of Muslims of Telangana” to the state’s political parties. The organisation first released the charter in August 2023.
Reports suggest that Telangana Congress in-charge Manikarao Thakre, Secretary Mansoor Ali Khan and others met the organisation’s leaders to discuss the charter. The organisation said it would not support Congress in six constituencies: Bodhan, Bahadurpura, Yakutpura, Chandrangutta, Goshamahal and Charminar.
Furthermore, the organisation desired to “defeat the hatred” and “blasphemous” candidate of the BJP from Goshamahal. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) firebrand MLA T Raja Singh is from Goshamahal. He will contest the elections from the same seat in the 2023 elections. In 2022, he was suspended from the party pending inquiry after an alleged speech against Prophet Mohammed. However, his suspension was revoked before announcing candidates for the assembly elections in Telangana. T Raja Singh is one of the most famous leaders of BJP in the poll-bound southern state and the most vocal against Islamist violence.
The Charter of demands
As per media reports, the list of demands includes various requests such as the restoration of the reimbursement scheme, implementation of overseas scholarships for Muslims, a budget of Rs 500 for the economic development of Muslims by Minority Finance Corporation, the establishment of Waqf Commissionerate and its Judicial powers, economic empowerment of Muslim women, development of slums in Old City, 8% reservation for Muslims in education and employment, protection of mosques and graveyards, monthly honorarium to imams and muezzins, appointment of Muslims in government jobs including police, judiciary, revenue, health and universities, promotion and development of Urdu language, and development of the Urdu academy. Furthermore, the organisation has also demanded the preservation of the heritage building of Osmania General Hospital Nizamia Medical College and the implementing of the Muslim Bandhu scheme.
The controversial history of Tahreek Muslim Shabban
TMS has a controversial history. The organisation has organised several pro-Hamas protests since the Israel-Hamas war broke out. Furthermore, it has opposed the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), CAA and NRC.
In October 2023, Mallik was put under house arrest after calling for a rally against Israel’s attack on Hamas. The rally was scheduled from Yakutpura Bada Bazaar to Darulshufa Ground on 27th October. However, Mallik was put under house arrest on the morning of the rally. TMS later called off the rally.
A few days before the call for a protest march, TMS said in a post on Facebook that Israel was killing innocent Palestinians and in future if someone picked up weapons against Israel, he would be called a terrorist. Interestingly, there was not even a single post by TMS condemning the terrorist attack of Hamas on Israel on 7th October in which at least 1,300 Israelis and foreign nationals were killed.
In July 2023, TMS organised an all-party roundtable meeting in Hyderabad against UCC. They called Muslim organisations and other civil society groups to join hands against the UCC. In a statement, Mallik claimed that the central government was stereotyping Muslims and called for intensive movement against UCC. He also gave the slogan “Jaan Se Badh Kar Shariat”, which literally translates to “Shariah above life”. He claimed that UCC was against all communities except certain sections with vested interests.
In June 2022, Mallik was booked by Chaderghat Police for promoting enmity and hatred. The suo moto case was filed against him over a social media post where he had appealed to Muslims to join a protest at Dharna Chowk. The FIR against Mallik was registered under Sections 153A, 295A and 505(2) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Mallik had called for a protest against former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma’s alleged remarks against Prophet Mohammed. Following the case registered against him, Mallik converted the protest into a public meeting at Chanchalguda Junior College.
TMS ran a campaign against Nupur Sharma and organised several rallies and protests. The organisation called for her arrest and deemed the statement as “Gustakhi Na Khabil-e-Bardash” that translates to “Mistake that cannot be forgiven”.
In January 2020, TMS called for protests against CAA-NPR-NRC. During a press conference following an all-party meeting in Hyderabad, Mallik announced that Muslims would never submit documents to prove their origin or domicile. He said, “We are Indians. The Constitution and law have bestowed liberty, for its strength, we will strive constantly. We will never file NPR and NRC forms at any cost. We are citizens of this country, and a communal government cannot seek evidence of our citizenship. We announce that we will not file the forms. May Almighty help us and protect us.”
Provoking Muslims against NRC, Mallik said, “If someone thinks that if he files a ‘form’ or provides family lineage information, he will be secure, he should analyse the NRC exercise. He will be astonished to see that a father’s name appeared in the register while his son could not find his name. Wives of many people could not prove their domicile. In many cases, fathers are in detention centres, and their children are freed or vice versa.”
TMS, just like other Muslim organisations and left-liberals, provoked Muslims against CAA, NPR and NRC. Interestingly, CAA has nothing to do with Indian Muslims. It was passed by the Central Government to fast-track citizenship of Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and Buddhists who took shelter in India before 2014 to save themselves from religious prosecution in neighbouring Islamic countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Furthermore, the Government of India did not issue drafts for NPR and NRC during that period. Without the draft, Muslim organisations like TMS provoked Muslims based on their imaginations. The unnecessary provocation against CAA-NRC led to anti-Hindu riots in Delhi in February 2020.
Interestingly, Mallik calls AIMIM’s chief, Asaduddin Owaisi, a BJP agent. It is evident that the reason behind such categorisation is because of his leaning towards Congress. During the Hijab controversy in Karnataka, Mallik attacked AIMIM for campaigning in the UP while the controversy was at its peak in Karnataka. He claimed that is was because of Owaisi that BJP won in UP as he divided votes in the voters-wise largest state of the country.