The letter by Mr. Mushir Ahmad (Radiance, 2-8 September) under the heading, ‘Muslim Empowerment or Muslim Enslavement’ tries to find a solution to the problems of the Indian Muslim Community (IMC). But does it succeed? Evidently not, for it does not rely on the successful formula adopted in Assam and later in Malegaon.
First, it calls for ‘unity’ as a precondition for IMC ‘becoming powerful’. It is this scribe’s humble view that unity (of any sort) of the IMC will be possible only on the basis of a ‘tenable non-religious / secular manifesto’ presented to the IMC by a Muslims-led Political Party (MPP). But Mr. Mushir Ahmad shies away from the formation of an MPP and settles for ‘Muslim Leadership(ML)’ only.
Having done this, he relies on the party that the ML and IMC may support and pins all his hopes on that party. But this strategy is not supported by recent history. ML has time and again obtained promises of fair play from various parties before various elections but these have always been forgotten once the said party or parties reached the legislative chambers in the states or in New Delhi.
The reason is simple: If the IMC did not have a reasonable number of MPs or MLAs, there was no reason for the party in power to even recognise the men who would be standing ‘out in the cold’ desperately trying to catch its attention in order to remind it of its promises to them.
If the IMC wants to do any better, there is no other way than that it form its own Political Party led by God fearing Muslims, but which should have a secular, inclusive manifesto for all the God’s creatures living in this blessed country of ours, and which should fight elections in all constituencies which are impressed by its manifesto like they did in Assam and in Malegaon.
There is thus a crying need for the IMC to repeat this experiment in the whole country – as close to the elections as possible though – only then will there be some hope for the poor and the wretched of India in general and for the IMC in particular.
Chaudhari Fariduddin
Safat, Kuwait