By Abu Zafar Adil Azmi,
Will Muslim community in India welcome US President Barack Obama on his visit to the country next month? The US policies for and the situation in Middle East, Iraq and Afghanistan have not changed even after the White House changed its occupant. So, for Indian Muslims, is there any difference between Bush and Obama? Let’s read the mind of the community – their clerics, leaders and youth.
Qari Muhammad Usman Mansoorpuri, president of India’s largest and oldest Muslim organization, Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind, and vice rector of Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband, says, “There is no difference between (former President George) Bush and Obama. Obama is following the Bush path in Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq…He should fulfill his promise on Palestine.”
Maulana Ataur Rahman Wajdi, President of the organization Wahdat-e-Islami, says the only difference between the policies of Bush and Obama is technique and approach.
But some clerics have a little soft approach towards Obama while some others have pinned hope in his understanding of the global situation and his gestures.
Mufti Mukarram, Shahi Imam of Masjid Fateh Puri in Delhi, says, “We do not hate or love him but Indian Muslims do not like the US policies. But how can we love the one who acts with injustice and oppression?”
Maulana Habibur Rahman Sani Ludhyaniwi, president of Majlis Al Ahrar, thinks that Obama is an improvement over Bush and that better relations might be possible. Indian Muslims still dislike the US but now they see some possibility for better relations, he said.
Mujtaba Farooq, political affairs secretary of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, says that there is no way Muslims can welcome Obama.
Adeel Akhtar, president of the journalists’ union Journalism for Justice, says that Indian Muslims are not happy about the visit because they want to see changes in US policies.
Mahmood Asim, an undergraduate at Jamia Millia Islamia, said, “Obama is like the Indian National Congress in India and Bush was like the BJP. The policies of the BJP and Congress are same for Indian Muslims but the Congress has sweet poison for them,” he said, meaning the BJP is direct in its opposition to Muslims while the Congress speaks of friendship but underneath is no different from the BJP.
When Bush visited India in 2006, Jamaat-e-Islami and other groups organized large protests in Mumbai and Delhi. On Obama’s visit also, the group is going to organize a convention on “Save the Nation from Poverty, Slavery and Imperialism”, said JIH media in-charge Dr SQR Ilyas. This is the best way to raise Muslims’ voices against US policies, he said.
(The writer is based in Delhi and attached with Urdu monthly Afkar-e-Milli. Mail him at [email protected])