‘I want Muslims to become a political force’

Muslims in UP and elsewhere in India have been taking a cue from the triumph of the fledgling Assam United Democratic Front in the recent Assembly polls. Imam Bukhari, who has been leading the move from the front, says it’s all because of the betrayal of Muslims by parties that claim to be secular but have actually been cynically using them to further their own narrow political ends. Bukhari tells Shahid Faridi that what’s being planned is not all-Muslim parties—but Muslim-led parties that represent all sections, including Hindus. Excerpts:

Muslim bodies are rushing to form political parties, especially after the success of the fledgling Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF) in the recent Assembly elections. And you, too, are at the centre of such a move in Uttar Pradesh.
Let me make it clear that neither the AUDF, nor the party that we are planning to form in Uttar Pradesh, are Muslim parties: at best you could call them Muslim-led parties. Although the AUDF is led by Badruddin Ajmal it has many important non-Muslim leaders. Also, of the 10 MLAs who won under the AUDF banner, three are Hindus. So, it is not right to call the AUDF a Muslim party. Nor can you say that about the one we are seeking to form. It, too, would be a Muslim-led party—but one that represents all sections, including upper caste Hindus.

But why are Muslims so keen to form their own parties? And to what do you attribute the AUDF’s success? Do you think such parties will fare as well in UP and the other states as in Assam?
Why are Muslims in this party-forming rush? It’s all because of the way most mainstream political parties have treated Muslims in the past 50 years. They are reacting against the false promises that have all along been made to the community to garner votes. Votes are all that these so-called secular political parties are after, breeding disenchantment in the community. I give them zero as far as their contribution to the Muslim community is concerned. Their words and deeds are completely divorced from each other. And yet the Muslims have been consistently voting for them all these years, with the result that they are today at the bottom of the social barrel, with a poor literacy rate and near-to-nil employment in the government sector. There are states where the government actively supports the economic ostracism of Muslims.

But look at their patience. In election after election they have voted for the same parties, never accepting a Muslim as their leader. Who were the community’s leaders? From Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru down to V P Singh and Lalu Prasad Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav, they were all Hindus. When V P Singh stormed onto the political centrestage with the slogan of social justice, Muslims supported him in a big way, hoping he would do something to pull them out of the morass they have all through been mired in. But even V P Singh could not meet their expectations. He, in fact, helped the communal BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] grow from two seats in Parliament to 86. In 1989, V P Singh had promised my father (the then Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid) that he would work for the Muslims’ uplift. It was only after this pledge that my father sent out the support-VP call to Muslims in the 1989 general elections.

I have been thinking about the past 50 years: of the communalist excesses against Muslims, the betrayal by phony secularists and the community’s worsening economic and educational condition as a result.

On April 21, 2000, I had called a public meeting at Delhi’s Ramlila Ground where I had urged Muslims to become a political force on their own strength. But they have been using these “secular” parties as crutches for so long that they have quite forgotten how to walk by themselves. Now, I want the community to stand on its own feet, to become a political force. Only then will our lost glory be restored. Just consider: a 25 crore-strong community has no standing in the country! Always dependent on other political parties! It’s only fair that these political parties now become dependent on the community. Nobody gives anything if you go around begging, and Muslims have been begging for their rights.

You have clearly lost all faith in the country’s secular parties. But I remember that even you once gave a call in support of the BJP.
I would only like to say that we beat the BJP with wisdom. The whole thing started with a move by a section of BJP leaders who wanted to seek out Muslims. I agreed. But I had something else in mind. When I welcomed the move and agreed to initiate talks with the BJP leaders and the prime minister’s representatives, they said that he wants to meet you. I said no, I am not going to him. I would talk to his representatives if they came to me. They did, and we talked. It all boiled down to a demand from their side that I appeal to the community and ask it to vote for the BJP. I refused. I never sent out the appeal, although the newspapers carried misleading headlines. I had initiated the talks to prevent the community from being charged with refusing to engage with them. I told them about the problems they faced. I told them that the community was suspicious of them (the BJP leaders) because of the latter’s anti-Muslim campaign. They agreed with me on many points. I told them that we would like to watch them in government in the next five years. While the talks were on, a Hindi paper from Uttar Pradesh and a TV channel flashed a news item saying that the Shahi Imam of Delhi had issued a fatwa to Muslims to vote for the BJP. You know there can’t be such a fatwa, which is a completely different thing. Two days later, the RSS and the VHP reacted to the news. They came down heavily against the BJP for talking to me and decided to work against it.

Do you really believe that the RSS and VHP went against the BJP in the previous elections? And that this was because the BJP had entered into talks with you?
This actually happened! In the previous Parliament elections, the RSS worked to defeat the BJP. The RSS and the VHP used all their strength to defeat the party. It is a fact. There is no doubt about it. Since I was silent throughout, I can reasonably claim the credit for the Congress being in power at the Centre. Muslims understand this. They understand that Imam Bukhari was instrumental in the defeat of the BJP.

But I would like to say here that it’s these “secular” parties that are responsible for the success of the communal BJP. In Gujarat, Narendra Modi would not have come to power had these parties fought the BJP together. They ask us to work for the BJP’s defeat, and themselves do all to help it. They say one thing and do another. theirs is the BJP’s mentality. If removing Modi was important, they should have worked together. But they strengthened him by dividing the secular votes. So, I feel that the blame for bringing Modi back to power lies squarely with the Congress, the Samajwadi Party, Ram Vilas Paswan and Sharad Pawar. All these parties, all these men, contested the Gujarat elections with the “remove Modi” slogan, but they actually helped him get re-elected.

Is that what’s prompted you to form a new front?
Ah, no! My call for the creation of a Muslim-led party was given six years back. But I was opposed—not by the people, but by leaders entrenched in the system, all of whom have been benefiting enormously by acting as links between the Muslim community and these sham secularists. These are the people who would have been the first to be affected by a Muslim-led separate front. So, my call to Muslims to become a political force was always opposed by these people.

Then came the Assam elections. We were all sitting here, in this very room. Barduddin Ajmal Saheb was here, as also others. When the elections were announced all those, including Muslim leaders who did not want Muslims to become a political force, opposed the move for a separate front in Assam. But it was set up just the same. I went to Assam where I spent about a week, addressing 10 to 12 meetings a day. I was the only outsider supporting the AUDF in Assam.
There were attempts to disrupt my campaign. The state government did not allow my helicopter to land many times for “technical reasons”. We used boats and jeeps to reach far-flung areas. I addressed public meetings at night, using the headlights for illumination. Thousands came to hear me. The AUDF had fielded 74 candidates, of whom 10 won, and nine came second and lost by a very narrow margin—some by less than 100 votes and others by a few hundred. Ten stood third and lost by 3,000-4,000 votes.

It was heartening for a party that was only a month-and-a-half old. The party got support not only from Muslims but also from Dalits and tribals. We were wrongly accused of being communal, something we are not. We formed a truly secular party. In fact, it is our accusers who are the real communalists and antinationals. They have joined hands with the Bodo party that is demanding a sovereign Bodoland. This Bodo party has not given up its demand for an independent Bodoland.
So, while we wanted Assam to become a model in the country, they are actually strengthening the hands of separatists.

Why aren’t you naming them, in that case?
Everybody knows that it is the Congress that has joined hands with the Bodo People’s Progressive Front to form a coalition government in Assam.

You seem to be having problems in replicating the Assam model in Uttar Pradesh.
That is not true. The Assam model will be replicated in Uttar Pradesh, and thereafter in the rest of the country. The success of the AUDF has given hope to Muslims across the country. My argument that Muslims should, and can, organise themselves into a political force has gained strength. But all those who say that I’m talking only about forming a Muslim political party are wrong. I am not talking about Muslims alone. We would take all the backward and poor people, including those from the upper castes. Our immediate effort is to form a front in Uttar Pradesh, where elections are due next year.

But a front has already been formed under Kalbe Jawwad.
On May 9, we had a meeting here in this room. The agenda was unity and formation of a front of small and big parties—forums and fronts that had hitherto existed independent of each other in Uttar Pradesh. There was unanimity on both issues—of unity and the front’s formation. The discussions lasted the whole day. A resolution was passed and we all agreed to meet again on June 10.

Some of those who were at the meeting asked me to attend another in Lucknow on May 15. I questioned them on the meeting’s agenda. They said, “Unity.” I said I would definitely try to attend—but I could not go. I was informed on telephone that the meeting called in the name of forging unity was used by two persons to announce the formation of a front, with one of them as the head. A majority of those who had come to attend it walked out in protest. I, too, have nothing to do with this front. We are meeting here again on June 10, as decided earlier. All those who had attended the last meeting at my house will be present—all barring Kalbe Jawwad and a couple of others. We will take a decision and make an announcement. We will focus on Uttar Pradesh.

What about Jamiat-Ulama-e-Hind. Will it be part of your front?
The president of the Jamiat, Maulana Arshad Madani, who came here for a meeting, had said that if the front was open for all sections, and not for Muslims only, then he was with it. I have not spoken with him since. When I make the announcement after the June 10 meeting, it will be clear that we are not talking about a Muslim front. And—Inshallah—it will bring everybody together. But they will put the proposal in their working committee and take a decision. They have a system. They will follow it.

My point is that Badruddin Ajmal of the AUDF is the president of the Assam unit of Jamiat-Ulama-e-Hind.
He says that the Jamiat is a non-political body while the AUDF is a political one—and the two are different.

So, is he part of the Jamiat or independent of it?
Only Badruddin Ajmal saheb can answer your question.

There are people who feel that an all-Muslim party will help the BJP by eating into the votes of the “secular” parties. What do you say to this?
We are not going to fall into this trap. The BJP is no different from any other political party. We have nothing to lose. So we are not afraid of the BJP. I know that there are people who have already started accusing us of trying to help the BJP.

But tell me one thing: If Ram Vilas Paswan fights on his own against the BJP-led front, and the Rashtriya Janata Dal-led front in Bihar, and his decision helps the BJP front to win the elections, he is not accused of helping the BJP. He continues to remain in the company of the so-called secular parties. If they fight separately in Gujarat, and their decision helps Narendra Modi to win elections, they are not accused of helping the communal forces.

Then why is it that whenever Muslims talk of becoming a political force, the first charge levelled against those who talk about it is that they are trying to help the BJP? Please explain this to me.