Telangana election results: Controversy's favourite child - Akbaruddin Owaisi - is AIMIM's face in 2018 Assembly polls

The Muslim-dominated Old City in Hyderabad has been the bastion of the AIMIM for generations and the party is supremely confident of retaining all the seven seats it presently holds from the region.   

While the party president Asaduddin Owaisi has made no secret that he is backing the TRS, and announced that it would be in a ‘friendly contest’ with the TRS, and not field very strong candidates in these seven constituencies, the AIMIM expanded its ambition and is contesting from Rajendranagar constituency as well. The constituency borders areas like Bahadurpura and Chandrayangutta in the Old Hyderabad City — giving AIMM the confidence of having a stronghold there. However, not to give in this time, the party is fielding an Asaduddin-loyalist from Rajendranagar.

31-year-old Mirza Rahmat Baig has reportedly claimed to have had humble beginnings — he was the driver and personal assistant of Charminar MLA Syed Ahmed Pasha Qadri, as he was instructed by “Asad sahib” (Asaduddin Owaisi).

The past MLA in the constituency has been Tolkanti Prakash Goud — who contested on the TDP ticket in 2009 and TRS ticket in 2014.

The face of AIMIM in the Assembly polls — Akbaruddin Owaisi is the younger brother of the party president Asaduddin Owaisi. The four-times sitting MLA from the Chandrayan Gutta constituency, Akbaruddin is contesting from the same bastion this time as well.

He has a strong political pedigree — his grandfather Abdul Wahed Owaisi restructured the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen into All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen after the party was in shambles and banned in 1948 after the Indian annexation of Hyderabad State. After Abdul Wahed Owaisi, his son Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi — Akbaruddin’s father — took control of AIMIM in 1975 and was referred to as Salar E Millat (commander of the community). Akbaruddin’s elder brother and the current president of AIMIM, Asaduddin Owaisi is hailed by his supporters as Naqeeb-e-Millat (Leader of the Community).

Akbaruddin has been the centre of controversies like a host of communally-charged statements including demeaning comments against Hindu god Rama and his mother Kaushalya. In 2007, he had threatened the Bangladeshi writer Taseema Nasreen. Nasreen was then assaulted by AIMIM legislators while she was in Hyderabad to release the Telugu translation of her book Shodh. In 2012, an inflammatory speech in Nirmal got him arrested for 40 days for the hate speech.

There are now 14 cases criminal cases against Akbaruddin, filed in different parts of the country, most for promoting enmity between different (religious) groups and for disobeying law-and-order authorities. The elder brother — Asaduddin — is seen as the liberal face of the party, and the third brother — Burhanuddin — is the editor of Etemaad, the family-run Urdu daily.  

Known to be an excellent orator in Urdu and English, Akbaruddin uses his oratorical skills efficiently with an excellent sense of timing. His performances are inflammatory when he is addressing the masses and appealing to their emotions, and very well-researched and articulate in the assembly — abundant with facts and backed by data. In fact, the elder Owaisi brother has acknowledged in an interview that Akbaruddin is a better orator than him — and Asaduddin has been known to defend India in international platforms.

He is contesting against Esa Bin Obaid Misri of the Congress and Shahejadi Sayyad of the BJP besides 12 other candidates from various parties including CPI, TRS, Shiv Sena and independent candidates.