“We may say about particular individuals whether they are corrupt or not, however we cannot say any such thing about any political party. All political parties are corrupt,” said Maulana Jalaluddin Umari, Ameer, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind at a monthly press conference organised by the Jamaat on September 1. The need of the hour is to invoke a sense of accountability among the people which can only come through God-consciousness, he added.
Moving on to the Assam riots, Maulana expressed anxiety over the perilous situation there where the Bodo community is fully armed and has all the wherewithal to turn the situation bloody at any point of time. He lamented the fact that the government has failed completely and is not even able to cease the non-licensed arms in possession of the Bodos, leave aside the licensed ones.
Expressing sorrow over the repeated media coverage claiming the Muslims in Assam as Bangladeshi, Maulana said, “No one from Bangladesh is in Assam. The people are living there for more than 200 years and have valid proofs and documents to prove their Indian citizenship.”
Taking a dig at the government, he questioned the inability of the government to provide assurance and safety for the people of Assam and posed a challenge for the government as it is its duty now to make arrangements so as to assure the displaced Muslims peace and security when they return to their homes. When asked about the Jamaat’s role in relief work, Mr. Nusrat Ali, General Secretary, JIH, mentioned briefly about the Jamaat’s activities.
“Apart from the relief work, members of Jamaat are helping people in providing legal help; they are also making arrangements to recover documents of the people, be it identity cards, ration cards, or property papers and they are also planning the rehabilitation process which would start the moment situation turns normal,” he said.
On the issue of Syria, Jamaat has expressed sympathy with the people in Syria and has demanded from the ruling clique to immediately hand over the power to the people. The Jamaat has also appealed to the Islamic world to use its good offices to translate into action the decision of recent Makkah Summit Conference to put an end to the internecine bloodshed. Welcoming the recent verdict in the Naroda Patiya killings, Maulana said that after the verdict the Narendra Modi government has lost its moral ground to rule and it has increased the confidence of Indian Muslims in the judicial system.