Don’t ruin your future by getting addicted to social media, Owaisi tells youth

Hyderabad parliamentarian Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday linked educational and social awareness and addiction to social media directly to the community’s political inclusion, citing the ongoing controversy in Bihar over the special intensive revision of electoral rolls.

Mr. Owaisi was speaking at the All India Majsli-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen party headquarters where he distributed educational kits to students.

“If you get addicted to reels, and tomorrow a BLO (Booth Level Officer) comes to your house in the name of intensive revision, how will you respond?” he asked. “Under the pretext of revision, many are being labelled Bangladeshi, Nepali or Myanmarese,” he said.

Cautioning students against addiction to social media, reels in particular. “When you go home, do not waste your time watching reels,” he told children in the audience. “By watching a one-minute or two-minute reel, you will not become a leader, or a scientist, or a schoolteacher, or a doctor, or an engineer. Addiction to reels will only waste your time and distract you.”

The AIMIM president emphasised that India’s Muslim minorities must become politically and professionally empowered. This, he said, would not only enable participation in democracy but also facilitate defending their rights and shape the nation’s future.

“In our beloved country, there are big challenges for minorities and especially Muslims. We will overcome them if we are united and strong: politically, and in fields like science, engineering, medicine and law,” Mr. Owaisi said.

Underscoring the acute need for more lawyers within the community, he said, “The Muslim minorities need more and more lawyers who will raise their voices for their sharia, personal laws, fundamental rights and against police injustice.”

He also expressed concern over alarming dropout rates among Muslim students, noting that over 21 lakh children had dropped out, of whom 51 % were girls. He warned that such educational exclusion, which was primarily due to fee non-affordability by weaker sections. This, he said, was not only a loss for the minority community, but for the nation as a whole. He criticised the narrowing of pre matric scholarships by the Union government.

Mr. Owaisi said the Prime Minister’s vision of a “Viksit Bharat” would remain unfulfilled unless minorities received equitable educational opportunities. “If you go to Muslim areas, you will find more liquor shops and police stations. What is required are schools and hospitals, only then will the country become stronger,” he opined.