Telangana deputy Chief Minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali: An accidental politician

“Deputy CM ka ghar? Wo raha (the deputy CM’s house? There it is),” says a smiling traffic policeman, pointing to a little lane across the street at Malakpet. A couple of feet in the lane is the office, home and business of India’s first Muslim deputy chief minister of a state — Mohammed Mahmood Ali, who is also minister of revenue, relief and rehabilitation and stamps and registration of Telangana.  

A crowd has already arrived at Ali’s doorstep. “It’s the holy month,” he says. “I have to help them… who else will they go to?” Mahmood Ali has grown up in the neighbourhood and knows just about everybody and vice-versa. “Ramzan, for me, is a social scheme, designed in such a way that the haves feel for the have-nots. It pre-dates every existing welfare plan of the civilised world and aims at equalising suffering.”

“I was 12 when I started, running about carrying milk (the family runs a dairy and milk business) to the neighbourhoods and making sure the accounts were fine. It is fun running a business. You meet people, you discuss money and make sure you’re genuine… just like the product you sell,” the minister adds. Politics came much later.

“I was 48 I think, and politics was never part of the plan. But I have a quality — none of my staff has ever left me. I got people who have been working here for the past 30 years. This is why I was able to connect with the Telangana struggle on a very personal level. I heard stories from my staff, about how they were left with no opportunities and no land. When you’ve been working with people so long, you feel their pain.”

Years later, Mahmood Ali is now a busy deputy CM, often working 14-hour days, seven days a week. “I remember this incident when, at 3 am, a bunch of burly guys knocked on my door. But my wife  asked me not to let them in. But I did, only to find out that they had a child in the emergency room, with doctors refusing to operate on her until they shelled out money for an extra oxygen tank. I was furious and rushed to the hospital to confront the doctors. You see, it’s about the people. There are hundreds who come here every day. Also, I was given this department for a reason, because honesty is a quality that keeps you and others happy and frankly, I’ve been keeping a healthy account book since I was 12.”

The Holy Month is also keeping Mr Maths busier. “I keep getting these fools asking me to donate to some all-India fund. But I shoo them away saying: Let’s work on the road outside your house first — we’ll go national later. These are the fools who turn politics into plain paperwork — let’s truly start working. Let’s start taking care of the needy, the poor and the hungry. That’s what Ramzan is all about.”