Muslims set Arvind terms

IMRAN AHMED SIDDIQUI

New Delhi, Dec. 30: Rahul Gandhi wooed but Arvind Kejriwal may gain.

Several leading Muslim organisations have offered support to the Aam Aadmi Party — one of them through a newspaper ad — in next year’s general election if it agrees to include in its manifesto a charter of 20 demands.

The development comes a week after Rahul attended a daylong interaction between the Congress and Muslim leaders as part of his plan to “open up” the political system.

Zakat Foundation of India, the country’s largest Muslim charity, put out an advertisement in all leading Urdu dailies in Delhi today.

“Indian Muslims congratulate Arvind Kejriwal and his team and ask him to set up a mechanism to end the injustice meted out to the largest minority group,” it said.

Zakat chief Syed Zafar Mahmood had written to the UPA government last month offering support if it fulfilled some of the 20 demands in “the next two to three months” and gave a written assurance to deliver the rest if voted back to power.

“But they failed to respond; so we decided to support the AAP with the same conditions,” said Mahmood, a former bureaucrat who was in Manmohan Singh’s PMO in 2005-06.

At last week’s meeting, addressed by Rahul, Muslim leaders including Mahmood had pointed out the Congress’s failures on various minority demands.

The All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat, an umbrella body of social organisations that drew up the 20-point charter with Zakat, said the Aam Aadmi Party was a good alternative.

Mushawarat president Zafarul Islam Khan said the AAP had challenged the “political monopoly of the Congress and the BJP”, giving the Muslims “another option”.

Three days ago, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, a political party, took a similar stand. Before the Delhi polls, Jamaat had issued a statement favouring the Congress and warning that a divided Muslim vote would benefit the BJP.

Key demands

■ Job quota for Muslims

■ Raising outlay for PM’s 15-point programme for minorities to 19% of total plan allocation

■ An equal opportunity commission

■ Fast-track terror courts; time-bound trial

■ Rs 50 lakh each for those acquitted in terror cases

■ Nomination of Muslims to high govt posts

■ Budget component for Muslims’ skill development, economic opportunities

■ An Indian Wakf Service

■ De-reservation of seats with sizeable Muslim influence

■ Minority status for Aligarh Muslim University

This is the first serious test for Arvind and let us hope he passes it.

Right from the beginning he should state that he is representing all sections of society, all castes and all religions. Reservations have been going on for 65 years now when it was initially planned for only 10 years.

In spite of that we have not been able to bring about equality because our politicians are just interested in perpetuating the divide for their own vote banks.

Just take an example of the Devyani Khabragade who has done exceeding well in life because of the backing of her father. I will not go into the validity of the charges against her that is to be decided between the governments of India and USA.

However, Mayawati suddenly jumps into the fray, saying that she is being victimized because she is a dalit. This is what I call vote bank politics.

I suggest that a status quo should be maintained on increase in any further reservations quotas. If once, he succumbs to what this organisation wants, other claimants will come with more arm twisting.

His position is presently such, that all sections of society love and respect him.

Let him not succumb to this vote bank politics like all others.

Let him be impervious to both Hindu and Muslim communalism