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| Assam Muslims show the way | | Muslims in UP, Delhi redesign their priorities | | POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, July 6: The growth of political opportunists at the national and state level has set in motion various leaders belonging to the two major communities of India--Hindu and Muslim. And the developing situation is certainly not without a mixture of hunger for power and vote-bank politics. No wonder, the high-profile Shahi Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid, Maulana Ahmed Bukhari, has come out along with many of his co-religionists to make others realise and accept the 'enhanced relevance' of the Muslim community in the political arena.
His latest message is highly important: If Muslims in Assam could succeed in their State in the recent Assembly polls, it should not be dificult at all for Muslims of Uttar Pradesh and Delhi--and for that matter in other regions of the country as well--to make their presence felt in electoral and political fields. The Maulana's message surfaced in the capital city of Lucknow on Wednesday (July 5) when he announced the launch of the United Democratic Front (UDF).
That the new Muslim platform, UDF, will play a decisive political role in the coming days and weeks is borne out by Maulana Ahmed Bukhari's highly loaded pronouncement: At a time when Muslims do not trust the UP Chief Minister, Mulayam Singh Yadav, the UDF would leave no stone unturned to shake his (Yadav's) Samajwadi Party out of its ennui and underline the minority's resurgence.
In his capacity as patron of the UDF, Maulana Bukhari anticipates the involvement and participation of more and more Muslim groups and bodies in the new organisation. And that he is pleased with the role played by the Assam Muslims is borne out by his observation that if the experiment of a joint Muslim front could succeed in Assam, the formula could also work in UP before, during and after the upcoming Assembly elections.
Clearly, the formation of the UDF is on the patern of People's Democratic Front (PDF) of Assam. Clearly, again, the UDF has been set up to fight for the the "self-respect" and "social justice" of the Indian Muslims. Mohammad Younus Qureshi has been unanimously elected chairman of the UDF. The UDF was formed after 22 Muslim organisations extended their support for the formation of a new front that would speak for the weaker sections of society.
Emboldened by the unprecedented success of the People's Democratic Front in the recent Assembly elections in Assam, the 22 Muslim bodies mooted an idea of launching a new political front in Uttar Pradesh keeping an eye on the Assembly elections scheduled this year.
Answering questions by EARLY TIMES on Thursday, Maulana Ahmed Bukhari said that the need for the UDF arose because the political parties did not pay heed to the demands of the Muslims. He criticised Mulayam Singh Yadav for using Muslims as a vote bank. He alleged that his Samajwadi Party had long been exploiting Muslims and failed to launch welfare measures for the community's betterment.
The Maulana also held Mulayam Yadav responsible for communal riots in Mhau and Aligarh and said that the community launched its own political front to resolve their problems. He also alleged discrimination in appointment of policemen.
The Maulana also critcised the Congress party, saying that it (Congress) will have to "atone for its sins incurred against Muslims during the last 58 years". His was purely a sarcastic comment: "The Congress party to limited to UP's Rae Bareli in any case. And Rae Bareli is not India".
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