Asaduddin Owaisi is a difficult man to catch. He is busy, I am told - travelling or in Parliament. He is either meeting party workers or on television talk shows. To top it, he doesn't like taking calls on his mobile phone. 'My phone is on silent mode most of the time. Even my family members are irritated by this habit,' he says.
I have finally managed to buttonhole the elusive MP after days of chasing him. And when we actually do meet, he gives me quality time. He even shoos away the television crew of a Telugu news channel, saying that he does not give bites on a Sunday.
We are sitting in the visitors' waiting room in his official residence right next to the Election Commission of India office in central Delhi. This has been Owaisi's address in Delhi for the last 30 years. His father, Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi, was allotted the house in 1984 when he was elected to Parliament from Hyderabad. The family has held the seat since then.
A flag of his party - the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) - flutters atop the white bungalow. The other signs of occupancy point to a man in need of - but with no time for - exercise. An exercise bike, a bench and a few dumbbells, most of them still to be unwrapped, stand in one corner of the waiting room.
'I bought them recently and have exercised on the bike a few times. But I don't know when I will use it again. Ultimately, it may end up being used for drying clothes,' he says with a laugh.
In a white kurta pyjama with a dark brown sleeveless cardigan and a grey-coloured skull cap, he looks relaxed - though he has a host of appointments lined up. His family (he has five daughters and one son, aged 5-16) lives in Hyderabad but is in Delhi for the weekend. I can hear the children arguing among themselves over something somewhere.
Owaisi, 45, is known for his argumentative ways, too. A barrister who was called to the bar in London's Lincoln's Inn is famous - or notorious - for his aggressive speeches in Parliament and at public rallies. The aggression seems to be working, for politically Owaisi's party is on a high.
Not only is he the MP from Hyderabad, which he has represented since 2004, but seven MLAs from his party - including his brother, Akbaruddin, are in the Telangana Assembly. In the recently held Maharashtra elections, his party won two seats on its debut, and is now hoping to make a mark in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.
The AIMIM president rejects the Opposition's allegation that his party split the 'secular vote' in Maharashtra, thereby helping the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena. 'When the Hindu vote deserts them, it is not a defeat of secularism. It is so only when Muslims and Dalits come together,' he points out caustically.
With a careless wave of his hand, Owaisi also dismisses whispers that he has entered into a secret alliance with the BJP to divide the Muslim vote. 'These are all baseless allegations which have no relevance. I am not a bonded labourer at the farmhouse of secular parties. We will oppose the Sangh Parivar on our own, more effectively than all these parties,' he says.
The MP stresses that he believes in secularism. 'The greatest strength of this great nation is secularism. We have survived as the only nation on the face of the earth with so many cultures and languages because of the acceptance of pluralism,' he says.
So Owaisi is not overtly perturbed by the recent attempts of some Sangh Parivar outfits to convert Muslims into Hinduism. 'They like the politics of divide. But the people of India know how to give them a befitting reply,' he says.
Strongly-worded replies are Owaisi's forte, too. He has spent the better part of the last two years defending himself and Akbaruddin for using words described as hate speeches. Scores of videos of their speeches are posted on YouTube. Akbaruddin, 43, trumps his elder brother with more than a million hits for his 2012 speech in Adilabad. The speech led to his arrest on charges of incitement of violence and spreading hatred.
'My opinion is let the courts decide,' Owaisi replies when I bring up the topic of his brother's speech. 'Everybody has to accept the court's verdict. A court ruled that Varun Gandhi was not guilty of a hate speech during the 2009 elections; we have accepted that. We will accept whatever the court says even in this case.' But, simultaneously, Owaisi accuses that police and political parties of being selective in their acts.
'You go to the same YouTube channel and you'll see hate speeches by Praveen Togadia and many others. Has any action been taken against these people?'
Has the action against his brother taught him a lesson? 'He is a shrewd politician. Not a single notice was issued to him for his speeches in Maharashtra. Every controversy has taught us a lesson,' he says with a smile.
Akbaruddin was a source of tension for the family for different reasons altogether. He had revolted against his family and married a Christian woman in the Nineties, which resulted in fissures in the family. 'We are a conservative family. That was a very big decision of Akbar and it surprised us. But it was sorted out during my father's lifetime,' Owaisi says. Their father died in 2008.
The Owaisi brothers have followed in the footsteps of their father, and before him, their grandfather, who established the party in Hyderabad.
Grandfather Abdul Wahid Owaisi was nominated to head the then banned MIM in 1958 by Qasim Razvi, the founder of MIM and the chief of the Razakars who fought Indian forces in Hyderabad. It was the grandfather who changed the constitution of the party, expanded the name and first fought the elections.
'My grandfather had rejected Jinnah's Pakistan and decided to stay on in India,' Owaisi says.
The party's detractors accuse it of pandering to fundamentalists. For instance, in 2007 when Taslima Nasreen was in Hyderabad, Akbaruddin had threatened to behead her. His party members had also assaulted the author.
In parts of the city, clearly, the writ of the Owaisis runs large. The family hold over minorities in Hyderabad has always been strong - and partly because they run several institutions. The Dar-us-Salam Educational Trust established by Sultan Owaisi runs various educational institutional such as the Deccan College of Engineering and Technology, the Owaisi Hospital and Research Centre, Deccan College of Medical Sciences and Princess Esra Hospital, besides schools and libraries. His youngest brother, Burhanuddin, manages the family-run Urdu newspaper Etemaad. And all three brothers head various trusts. It is said that the property held by these trusts alone is worth hundreds of crores of rupees.
Asaduddin Owaisi may have devoted all his time to the trusts or a career in law if it weren't for the politically volatile times of the early Nineties. He believes that one of the most defining moments of his life was when he heard of the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992.
'I was numb and told myself that it couldn't be true. The images of people destroying it and then distributing sweets left me in shock,' he says, clenching his fist.
He was studying in England when the mosque was razed. He returned to India in 1994 and heard that the people of Hyderabad were upset with their party for failing to protect the masjid. 'Then senior leaders said they wanted educated people in politics so that our issues could be put forward,' Owaisi recalls.
So he took the plunge - and went on to win the Charminar seat of Hyderabad in the 1994 Assembly elections by over 60,000 votes. And he has not looked back since then.
The party now hopes to contest future state Assembly elections across the country. The focus is on Uttar Pradesh. 'We are working very hard in UP. I am travelling a lot and addressing party workers and establishing offices there. We are in the process of organising the party in West Bengal also,' he says. He believes that one day there will be more non-Muslim representatives in his party than Muslims.
Does that mean vitriolic speeches will be toned down to appeal to a wider audience? 'My brother and I will continue to speak the truth. We will speak on behalf of Muslims, Dalits and other oppressed classes,' he replies.
Owaisi believes that the political class has failed the Muslim community. 'The social and economic indicators say only one thing - that the leadership has failed.'
But one Prime Minister, he believes, did something concrete for Muslims. 'Dr Manmohan Singh in his first term is the only Prime Minister in Independent India who really started something constructive for minorities. The only Prime Minister,' he emphasises before adding that Singh failed to show the same kind of understanding and excitement in his second term as PM.
He holds that his party will surprise many in the coming years with its performance. He looks at the group of party workers waiting for him on the lawns. 'They have been waiting for too long,' he says. That's the cue for me to leave.
