bulbul Posted October 16, 2013 Posted October 16, 2013 Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Hind general secretary Mehmood Madani has hit Congress where it hurts most – its claim that it is the principal custodian of secular fabric of Indian society and polity. The cleric’s rude jolt to the grand old party was that Muslims must not be seen as captive voters or just as a vote bank when it comes to an electoral face off in the upcoming five assembly elections and subsequent parliamentary polls. his effectively means that Congress’s hopes of painting the Narendra Modi versus Rahul Gandhi contest as a secularism versus communalism one, which would allow it to be the natural beneficiary of what is called hostile voting by the minority community, has been dented. Madani’s statement that caught the Congress completely off guard, is important for various reasons – Founded in 1919, Jamait is India’s biggest Muslim organization with around 125 lakh active members in various parts of the country. The members pay Rs 1 per month as subscription, and the organization has a formidable track record in social, religious and educational activities. Therefore it commands enormous political clout in the community and outside. The Madani family also controls Deoband, which is the largest and most revered Islamic seminary in Asia. The official Jamait website has so far been happily displaying pictures of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh engaged in close conversation with Maulana Mehmood Madani and his uncle Maulana Arshad Madani. That is indicative of the strength of relationship that he and Jamait have had with the Congress top brass. The same is true of their relationship with the Samajwadi Party and some other regional parties. The clerics statement, where he said, “Congress should not try to get Muslim votes by creating fear about somebody. These so called secular parties should look at possibilities of community welfare which they have not done so farâ€, will not however only unnerve the Congress. It will also hurt other other secularists such as Nitish Kumar, Mulayam Singh Yadav, the CPI and CPM who are planning a joint convention against communalism (read Narendra Modi), on October 30 in New Delhi. http://www.firstpost.com/politics/madani-has-destroyed-congs-rahul-vs-modi-game-plan-1174333.html I know this is already posted,but this deserves it's own thread [at least for 1 hour] Hope the ICF experts who used to argue there is no vote bank politics happen with Muslim community will at least think for couple of minutes. Hope this guy won't change tune or get sacked as this will be a very very important comment in Indian political history. ps : But knowing Con party this may not have big impact on elections anyway.
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