VZCZCXRO3125
RR RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDBU RUEHLH RUEHPW
DE RUEHNEH #0047/01 1331143
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 131143Z MAY 09
FM AMCONSUL HYDERABAD
TO RUEHNEH/AMCONSUL HYDERABAD 0083
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0081
INFO RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 0061
RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0008
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 0008
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0008
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 0008
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0008
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 0008
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0008
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0001
RHMFISS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
RUMICEA/USCENTCOM INTEL CEN MACDILL AFB FL
RUEILB/NCTC WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEIDN/DNI WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HYDERABAD 000047 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PTER PHUM KDEM IN
SUBJECT: BHARAT BALLOT 09: UNDERSTANDING ANDHRA PRADESH: THE MIM 
 
HYDERABAD 00000047  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY: In the first election after the death of its 
patriarch, Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi, the All India 
Majlis-Ittehadul-Muslimeen (MIM) faces one of its toughest 
challenges in years.  The Old City section of Hyderabad remains 
a stronghold of the MIM, but this year, barely seven months 
after the death of its leader of four decades, MIM finds itself 
opposed by a respected member of the local Muslim community, 
while at the same time it must defend its vote with the 
Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in support of the 
U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Cooperation Initiative (CNCI).  In this 
test of the strength of old-school family politics the community 
looks likely to choose history and vote-bank loyalties.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
----------------- 
Present in Spirit 
----------------- 
 
¶2.  In the aftermath of the death of Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi, 
the Owaisi family seems to have lost very little stature in the 
local Muslim community.  His two sons inherited the reputation 
amongst Old City Muslims for delivering on promises of local 
development and security.  The older son, Asaduddin, is still 
the odds-on favorite to retain his family's hereditary seat in 
Parliament from the Hyderabad constituency.  Meanwhile, the 
younger son, Akbaruddin, is favored to remain the MIM's leader 
in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly. 
 
¶3.  In this Congress stronghold state, MIM survives partially 
through a tacit agreement with the ruling party.  Congress 
consistently runs weak candidates against the MIM, and in return 
the five-strong MIM delegation in the state assembly supports 
the Congress.  The MIM continues to emphasize its role as 
spokesman for India's Muslims in Parliament, where, in the 
party's view, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) represents the 
greatest long-term threat to the community.  Making no secret of 
its disdain for the BJP's Hindu-nationalist ideology and with no 
apparent concern for hypocrisy, the MIM presents itself to its 
Old City Muslim supporters as a secular antagonist to the BJP. 
It is a widely held view that this MIM stand against Hindu 
nationalism is an important factor behind the party's continued 
strength in this small pocket of Andhra Pradesh. 
 
------------------- 
The Wrath of Owaisi 
------------------- 
 
¶4.  Of the two brothers, Asaduddin faces the stiffer challenge. 
Zahed Ali Khan, a respected community leader and longtime editor 
of Siasat, India's most popular Urdu-language newspaper, joined 
the electoral fray under the banner of the Telugu Desam Party 
(TDP), the leading opposition party in the state.  Bearing 
strong Muslim credentials, deep roots in the community, and the 
backing of a powerful coalition, Khan is a credible challenger 
for Asaduddin's seat in Parliament. 
 
¶5.  To understand how seriously the MIM perceived the threat one 
need look no further than the list of candidates for the seat, 
two of whom are named Zahed Ali Khan.  The homonymous 
MIM-inspired stand-in belies MIM's public statements that the 
BJP is its most significant opposition and Khan does not pose a 
threat.  More seriously, MIM supporters instigated skirmishes at 
Khan's rallies in the city.  An alternative interpretation of 
the MIM's response is that the Owaisis' supporters are simply 
angry about Khan's attempt to split the Muslim vote in the 
constituency and that, with no real concerns about their own 
electoral viability, the MIM acted in a purely retaliatory 
fashion.  Fortunately for the original Khan, voters' reliance on 
party symbols to identify their candidates should prevent 
confusion on a scale that would affect the outcome. 
 
--------------------- 
 
HYDERABAD 00000047  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
The Nuclear Non-Issue 
--------------------- 
 
¶6.  The July 2008 confidence vote was for many observers a 
referendum on CNCI.  However, from the perspective of the MIM 
and the local Muslim community the confidence vote was simple 
politics.  The MIM successfully convinced its partisans that a 
vote with the United States was a `far lesser evil' than 
bringing L.K. Advani and the BJP to power.  As such, the best 
efforts of the BJP, the Communist Party of India (CPI), and the 
Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) to brand the MIM as 
pro-American were in vain.  Any anti-American sentiment held by 
Old City Muslims was overshadowed by concerns about voting for 
Hindu or secular parties.  And local development and security 
issues, on which the MIM is virtually unassailable, overwhelm 
both of these issues.  The irrelevance of the CNCI vote in the 
recent election serves as proof of the hold that the MIM has on 
its followers, who seem convinced that only the MIM can provide 
them security against communal violence. 
 
---------------------------- 
The Violence After the Storm 
---------------------------- 
 
¶7.  Over the past few years, various members of the MIM were 
involved in a series of incidents, several involving violence, 
that paint it as a party of rabble-rousers.  Most notable was a 
riot surrounding the visit to Hyderabad of controversial 
Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen.  More recently, during the 
April 17 vote in Hyderabad, Asaduddin was personally involved in 
an incident alternately described as `stopping vote-rigging' or 
`attacking voters', depending on the observer's perspective. 
What is certain is that he was engaged in a physical altercation 
with supporters of an opposition party.  The state Director 
General of Police, A. K. Mohanty, whose appointment Owaisi 
initially opposed because of a perceived anti-Muslim bias, filed 
a case against him.  Owaisi subsequently challenged Mohanty to 
`come out of his uniform and face [me] in an election fight.' 
At the same time, Akbaruddin Owaisi clashed with opposition 
supporters in his own constituency.  Still more MIM activists 
attacked a BJP Assembly candidate at another polling station. 
In response, the BJP candidate claimed he was attempting to stop 
the distribution of cash by the MIM at that polling station. 
 
¶8.  COMMENT: For all the cracks in its armor, the MIM remains 
entrenched in the Old City.  While the attacks and the dummy 
candidates are seen as signs that the MIM itself perceives a 
challenge, most poll-watchers give Khan little chance of success 
against the MIM in the upcoming vote count despite the high 
profile of his candidacy.  The reason for this is primarily 
MIM's decades of service to the community under deceased 
patriarch Salahuddin, who is every bit as powerful in spirit as 
he was in person.  Still, as time passes, the younger Owaisis 
will have to prove themselves as their father did, lest their 
influence fade with his memory.  END COMMENT. 
KEUR