Asaduddin Owaisi's speech text

This deal is not between religions and communities. It is between two countries of India and United States. Why are you dragging Muslims into this? I would like to counter the canard that is being spread that the Muslims of this country are against the nuclear deal. I just want to ask why don’t the rulers of UP and West Bengal CMs single out and tell whether the Dalits or the Hindus of their state support the deal or not.

I am supporting the government because I do not want at any cost the leader of Opposition LK Advani as the Prime Minister.

I am very well aware of the Left’s hatred against the minorities. While there are about 28 percent Muslims in the West Bengal, why is it that their representation is merely 2 per cent? This is not the way to claim supporting the minorities. If you want to support the BJP, then go ahead. But I am very clear, if Advani becomes the Prime Minister who will suffer? I will suffer a loss. I have already suffered the loss of the Babri masjid.

I am a Muslim and I am an Indian and I see no distinction between the two.

Here are the excerpts from Omar Abdullah's speech which he made in Parliament on 22 July, 2008.

SHRI OMAR ABDULLAH (SRINAGAR): Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I think that it is a matter of great misfortune for Parties like mine. … (Interruptions) I do not know whether the Rs. 1 crore that was shown here is genuine or not. But I think that it is extremely unfortunate that if nothing else, this Rs. 1 crore is seeking to buy the silence of Parties like mine who are not being given an opportunity to speak in a correct manner in this House. … (Interruptions)

I have been a Member of this House for 10 years, and I have never disturbed this House in these 10 years. I have sat with them and I have sat on this side, and I have never disrupted a speaker and yet here they do not have the courtesy to listen to what I have to say. … (Interruptions)

I am a Muslim, and I am an Indian. I see no distinction between the two. … (Interruptions) I see no reason why I, as a Muslim, have to fear a deal between India and the United States of America (USA). … (Interruptions) This is a deal between two countries. It is a deal between, we hope, two countries that in the future will be two equals. … (Interruptions)

Sir, the enemies of Indian Muslims are not the Americans, and the enemies of the Indian Muslims are not ‘deals’ like this. The enemies of Indian Muslims are the same enemies that all the poor people of India face, namely, poverty and hunger, unemployment, lack of development and the absence of a voice. It is that we are against, namely, the effort being made to crush our voice. … (Interruptions)

I am not a Member of the UPA, and I do not aspire the Membership of the UPA. But I am extremely unhappy with the way in which my friends in the Left have taken on this self-imposed position of being the certifiers of who is secular and who is not. … (Interruptions)

Until a few years ago, I was a part of the NDA and I was a Minister with them. The same Left people considered me as a political untouchable, and they considered me an outcaste because I was a part of the NDA. Today, the same Left people are telling me that all secular Parties must unite with the BJP to bring down this Government. … (Interruptions)

I made a mistake of standing with them once. I did not resign on the question of Gujarat when my conscience told me to do so, and my conscience has still not forgiven me. I need not make the same mistake again. … (Interruptions)

आप लोग अमरनाथ की बात करते हो, आपने अमरनाथ का आरोप लगाया,…(व्यवधान) आप एक जगह दिखाइए, जहां पर किसी कश्मीरी ने यात्रा के खिलाफ बात की हो, जहां किसी कश्मीरी ने कहा हो कि हमें यात्री नहीं चाहिए, जहां यात्रियों के ऊपर हमला हुआ हो।…(व्यवधान) हमारी जमीन का मुद्दा था, हम अपनी जमीन के लिए लड़े और मरते दम तक अपनी जमीन के लिए लड़ेंगे, लेकिन हम आपकी तरह फिरकापरस्त नहीं हैं।…(व्यवधान) हम आपकी तरह कम्युनल नहीं हैं। हम मस्ज़िद नहीं गिराते और मंदिर भी नहीं गिराते। …(व्यवधान) वहां एक सौ साल से ज्यादा अमरनाथ की यात्रा चलती आ रही है और जब तक कश्मीर में मुसलमान हैं, श्रीनगर और अमरनाथ में आपकी यात्रा चलती रहेगी। …(व्यवधान)

अध्यक्ष महोदय, मैं यह बात दावे के साथ कहना चाहता हूं कि इन लोगों की तरह मेरी सियासत बदलती नहीं है, आज इस तरफ और कल उस तरफ। …(व्यवधान) हमने सेक्यूलर फोर्सेस के साथ हाथ मिलाया है और मिलाते रहेंगे। The Jammu & Kashmir National Conference (J&KNC) will vote to support the Motion moved by the Prime Minister. Thank you.

Why MBA? Why PGSEM from IIMB...

When I told everyone that I am joining PGSEM, the first question people had is what is it? Next came what I plan to do after doing it? Some suggestions came in with respect to the course and what other have felt about it. When I announced, I am shifting to Chennai to pursue the course, came another one - why Chennai?

Well to be truthful, I was not thinking of doing MBA until sometime around Jan. Reasons were varied, I loved (and still love and enjoy) doing technical work and was expert in most of the work I do. But then there was something missing, which I had started realising. As I was moving up the ladder, the challenges which were coming up were getting reduced and I was not getting that much kick from my work. So I started thinking of venturing out into some new areas and looked for more options. Initially I zeroed on some certificate courses from IIMC etc which are conducted by Hughes and they were available in Mangalore also. The reason why I completely dropped them from my mind was that I realised those courses offered little value and there were no chances of class participation and creating some network.

My idea of doing MBA was doing it part time only. Full time was no-no :), so that's why was not thinking of full time PGP (through CAT) at all. I stumbled upon PGSEM through some of the websites and worked on getting more knowledge on the course.

Well the course is 2.5 years (min), part time, executive, general management course conducted by IIMB in Bangalore and Chennai. In Chennai it happens over distributed mode i.e. the class happeneing in Bangalore is transmitted over to Chennai classroom and vice-versa (since last two weeks profs had been in Chennai).

This course is one of the most misunderstood while being not as famous as its full time counterpart (i.e PGP). I will just explain all the facts in post below and all these are my thoughts. In my opinion, in everyone's mind the perception of an MBA graduate is a person who is working in an Investment Bank (IB's) and draws the highest salary. Well that is true in some of the cases, where the IB's take in people from IIM's with grand salaries. This may not be true for all the MBA's from IIM's. There are varied reasons, people are exceptionals or they may have prior experience because of which they are taken. Well but that is true for only x% of total grads (am not debating on what that x is). But this has set the perception in minds of everyone about what an MBA from IIM does.

My reason for chosing and deciding on PGSEM from IIMB were very clear. It is one of the best MBA school, PGSEM is a part time course thereby allowing me to continue the job and I did not want to shift into an IB (if that was my aim, full time MBA would have been better option). With these clear aim in mind I decided to go forward.

Entrance I say is tough. Admission is through CAT / GMAT or PGSEM exam (happens in March). I gave the PGSEM test which is very similar to CAT, but as usual IIM threw in a surprise for us. There was an extra essay test givem on a case. Well I would say, this move was definately in my favour. Then we had two rounds of interview - Alumni and Faculty after which only seats were offered. Don't unestimate the competition for the course, for a total of 150 seats for the course, 4-6 people were interviewed for a seat and so you can see there were lots of rejections too.

There has been some concers on the placements not available after the course, but dude, you are pursuing the course since you are already in job. Now if you want to utilize the course and get into some other area, then you should be proving that in your company and move, I don't think everything should come one a plate :). I am very clear on how I will proceed further, which area I will move into is still being thought off in my mind.

From these 4 weeks of going weekly for the course, one thing is very clear to me. It going to be tough. Daily working till evening and then leaving early from home for classes (as they happen in MCity which is outside Chennai city) and contiuing over Saturday also. It leaves just one day which I was mostly spending on sleeping, but after yesterday's test I will be studying properly on Sunday's as well as other day's of the week :). One more thing, nowdays the wishing on Saturday evening, which is when classes ends it like 'Have a nice day', no reference of weekend by anyone. In the past there has been some drop-outs from the course, people who might find it difficult to manage the time between work, studies and personal life.

So people who have come out of this course are more hardened than probably the full time (we have to earn the same credits as the full time people to get the degree) but in no way we should be comparing the courses as all are distinctively different.

Useful information about the program:

IIMB PGSEM site

Yahoo group for PGSEM

PGSEM - Students Network

Wiki