By Mohammed Siddique, TwoCircles.net
Hyderabad: As stage is set for the opening of voting in 22 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh, every body is keenly watching which way the 10% Muslim votes will go in the state.
There is also special attention on the prestigious Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat where for the first time since the formation of AP state the mina fight is between two Muslim candidates.
But unlike 2004, when the Muslims were united in their goal of ensuring defeat of Telugu Desam of N Chandrababu Naidu to punish him for his support to the BJP led NDA government in Delhi, even after the pogrom of Gujrat, Muslims in Andhra Pradesh are presenting a divided house with different Muslim organizations taking a different stand.
The United Muslim Forum headed by prominent religious figure Moulana Hameeduddin Aauqil Hussami and comprising of several Muslim organizations has declared its support to the Congress party and All India Sunni Ulema Board representing several organization and groups of Barelvi sect have declared their support to the Grand Alliance led by Telugu Desam.
The Jamate-s-Islami Hind though undertook an elaborate exercise of coming out with People’s Agenda with seven major problems of the people at large and discussing with different political parties has taken a confused stand. While it has declared its support to the Congress party in the majority of the Lok Sabha and state assembly constituencies, it has also extended support to the candidates of various other parties like TDP, CPI, CPIM TRS and Lok Satta at different places.
But in Hyderabad Lok Sabha and the assembly segments under it, Jamat has failed to take any stand. The main contest in Hyderabad is between sitting MP and the president of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) Asaduddin Owaisi and Zahed Ali Khan of Telugu Desam. Apparently Jamat did not want to take sides and leave any of the rivals unhappy.
But in Nizamabad assembly constituency where Muslims have turned against Congress and supporting a Muslim candidate of Praja Rajyam party Raheem Saifi, Muslims were unhappy with the Jamat’s stand to support Congress candidate and state Congress president D Srinivas. They even held a demonstration at the Jamat’s office in Nizamabad.
Moulana Syed Shah Hamid Hussain Shuttari, the spokesman of All India Sunni Ulema Board defended their decision to support TDP saying N Chandrababu Naidu was a secular leader and he had accepted 9 to the 15 demands they had put forward before him.
The MIM in its high pitched campaign targeted Telugu Desam party for its support to the ATal Bihari Vajpaee government when thousands of Muslims were being killed in Gujrat. Asaduddin Owaisi, targeted his rival Zahed Ali Kha, the Editor of Urdu daily Siasat for contesting against him on TDP ticket. “I have sympathy for him. It would have been better for him if he had contested as an independent candidate”.
The campaign in Hyderabad revolved around personalities rather than issues. While Zahed Ali Khan and his supporters targeted the Owaisi family asking why it should have single handed control over MIM, the MIM questioned the locus standi of Zahed Ali Khan to attack them after remaining silent for all these years when MIM was fighting for the Muslim community.
Though the issue of indiscriminate arrests of Muslim youth on the suspicion of being involved in terror activities and subjecting them to torture in the illegal custody of police was a burning issue last year, it hardly figured in the election campaign. Both the sides tried t use it as a weapon to settle score.
Zahed Ali Khan alleged that MIM had failed to protect the Muslim youth and supported Congress government, Asad Owaisi said that it was MIM which paid Rs 9 lakh to get the youth released on bail. “Where was Zahed Ali Khan at the time? Why he did not help these youth”, he asked.
The Congress party of late realized that the issue of torturing Muslim youth was alienating the community from it. The Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy told this correspondent in an interview that it was regrettable that the police had committed excesses initially. “But later we controlled the police. I made it clear to the police that no youth should be arrested or picked up illegally unless they have a sound basis and prove to show his involvement in undesirable activities”, he said.
But as far as the issue of Ravi Chandar committee report on the torture of Muslims is concerned, there is a deafening silence on the part of every body.