By Md. Ali, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: Dr. Zafarul-Islam Khan, Editor, Milli Gazette was on January 3, 2012 elected as the President of All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat (AIMMM). Mushawarat is an umbrella body that represents non-political Muslim organizations belonging to all sects and schools of thoughts. However, fierce and typical politics was observed before the election at AIMMM.
The election for the president of AIMMM has been quite an eventful and important affair this time. First of all, it is first time (barring one term) during last one decade that somebody other than Syed Shahabuddin has become in-charge of the affairs at Mushawarat both literally and metaphorically. Before March 2011, it was Mr. Shahabuddin who dominated the AIMMM for entirely a decade. He was its President during 2000-2008 and also from 2010-2011. Dr. Zafarul Islam Khan served as President of AIMMM in 2008-2010 and as Working President of AIMMM since March 2011 as due to illness, Mr. Shahabuddin was not able to execute work.
Secondly, it turned out that the election for the post of President of AIMMM, was quite close as Dr. Khan won the election by just two votes. Dr. Zafarul-Islam Khan got 27 votes out of which one vote was declared invalid by the Returning Officer of Mushawarat AR Shervani;whereas Navaid Hamid, member of the National Integration Council (NIC) got 26 votes of which two votes turned out to be invalid. Out of the total 83 members, 53 turned up to vote.
Never in the history of the Mushawarat, has the fight for the top post been so close and neck to neck. Like the pattern of nominations, usually followed in Muslim organizations, in Mushawarat also neither of the candidates nominated themselves. Both the candidates were nominated by other members of the AIMMM.
But what happened in the run-up to the election was interesting, as it clearly demonstrated that fierce politics happens in election of even an organization, whose following among the Indian Muslims is a matter of debate. It was also interesting because it was a representative picture of Muslim politics being practiced in India. Typically there was a series of allegations and counter allegations thrown at each other.
While supporters of Hamid said that they proposed his name in order to “expose the myth of imposing directives of a certain ideological group, on the name of consensus.” On top of that they also alleged that Jamaat-e-Islami went all out to make sure that Hamid doesn’t win, by sending a directive to all of its sympathizers in the AIMMM not to vote for Navaid Hamid.
Without naming Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH), which was being accused of hijacking the AIMMM, people told TwoCircles.net, that it’s trying to hijack the organization by bringing its own people in the core structure of the organization, an allegation which people related to the JIH strongly denied. It was said that there was no basis to the allegation because the Jamaat had been there since its inception in 1964.
There was no consensus on Navaid Hamid’s name as he is seen as very close to the Congress party, the ruling party at the Center. The irony of this allegation versus Hamid’s candidature, was that Salman Khursheed, the Union Minister for Minority Affairs didn’t turn up to cast his ballot. Khursheed was also a voter in the AIMMM’s election.
Interestingly, presidentship of Mushawarat wasn’t Dr. Zafarul-Islam’s first choice. Khan had asked members of the AIMMM, not to nominate him and look for somebody else; but he had also said that he would accept the challenge if the AIMMM’s members couldn’t find any competent and able person for the post.
An allegation against Hamid is that he had done the canvassing at all levels, something which the NIC member denies. There was also a view that Navaid Hamid, got 26 votes, which was unexpected, only because the voters wanted “change” and that was why, they favored the “younger generation” to take over the leadership, which in turn, pro-Hamid section alleged was thwarted by the “manipulative calculations of certain individuals belonging to Jamaat-e-Islami.”
Talking to TwoCircles.net, Dr. Khan said that, Navaid Hamid has been his good friend. He also said that even though he preferred not to enter in the fray, but accepts the challenge given to him by the Mushawarat. He specifically emphasized on the fact that he hasn’t yet entered the league of “older generation.”
“Both the idea of younger generation and modernity happen in terms of not age but in terms of experience, competence and views,” said the newly elected President of AIMMM.
Navaid Hamid also told TCN that he had nothing against Dr. Zafarul-Islam Khan. “Dr. Khan is my good friend and I have nothing against him. My candidature was issue based,” added Hamid.
All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat was established to safeguard interests of Indian Muslims in 1964 as an umbrella group of all Muslim organizations related to all the Muslim sects and schools of thoughts including Shias, Sunnis, Barelwis, Deobandis, Nadwis, Ahle Hadees and Jamaat-e-Islami prominent among others.
Link:
http://mushawarat.com/