The then MIM president and Razakar leader Qasim Rizvi was jailed from 1948 to 1957, and was left on the condition that he would go to Pakistan, where he was granted asylum.
The Owaisis era started in 1976, when Salahuddin Owaisi's father Abdul Wahed Owaisi became president of MIM.
Abdul Wahed Owaisi was also acerbic in his attacks against the majority community. He used to incite Muslims by saying that Muslims should stand on their own feet, rather than look to the state for help.