Shahi Imam calls for new Muslim front

     New Delhi: Chief cleric of India's biggest Mosque on Saturday called for an independent political front for Muslims saying that the existing political parties have betrayed them by using the community as mere vote banks with little concern for the community. Jama Masjid Shahi Imam Syed Abdullah Bukhari said that the country's numerous Muslims groups, who have been divided over sectarian or political alignments, should now come together to make a common voice.

    The Muslims, he said, have for decades remain unheard, plunging deeper into poverty and backwardness as they accepted themselves as weak minorities, who needed the political support to be heard. "Muslims have even voted for the Bharatiya Janata Party, they have literally carried the Congress on their backs, borne the burden of the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samajwadi Party...we have trusted and aligned ourselves to almost all political outfits. They have given us nothing but hurt and betrayal. We are not going to take that any longer. Now we will talk partnership, we will talk equal sharing...there will be no more pay obedience, Muslims have done a lot of it...we want an equal share," Bukhari said on the sidelines of a huge conference of Muslim leaders from across the country. The objective of the conference is to bring all Mulisms from different religious and political groups under one platform and to evolve a joint strategy for their socio-economic and educational upliftment.

    The cleric's ageing father, Jama Masjid's former chief cleric Syed Abdullah Bukhari, hugely respected amid Muslims, added weight to his son's proposals saying the time had come to rise above shed sectarianism. "Today there should be no Sunni, no Shia, all those who are faithful they have a place in our society, they are our strength...we are going to rise on our feet. Neither Congress, nor any other party we do not need crutches, we must now come together and stand on our feet," he said in his address in the premises of the historic 17th century Jama Masjid.

    Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh was almost forced to leave the venue, when many participants in the conference started raising slogans against him when Singh was making his speech. The protestors, who opposed the speech by Singh, said that it was a religious conference and leaders like Amar Singh should not be allowed to speak at such functions. Almost all political parties woo the country's 140 million Muslims, who are reliable vote banks as against the fickle Hindu middle and upper classes and have promised them benefits ranging from reservation in jobs to more grants for their schools and universities. But Muslim leaders allege few of the assurances have been kept and instead many parties have worked to fuel suspicion and hatred towards the community. India has witnessed two of its biggest communal riots in the past two decades with an attack on a disputed structure in Ayodhya in 1992 and violence over killing of Hindu pilgrims in Gujarat sparking massive bloodshed in 2002.

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