Bukhari’s appeal in favour of Cong unlikely to attract Muslim voters

LUCKNOW: With non-BJP parties making desperate efforts to attract Muslim voters in UP, Shahi Imam Jama Masjid, Delhi, Maulana Syed Ahmad Bukhari finally dumped the Samajwadi Party and joined the Congress bandwagon on Friday. However, his appeal to Muslim community in UP to vote for the Congress is unlikely to have any positive impact.

The Congress, which has been struggling to gain ground along with the Rashtriya Lok Dal in communally surcharged western UP, hopes to attract the community through the appeal. But if past record is any indication, it may prove a damp squib. There is a strong lobby of the Ulema (clerics) that is against him in the state. “Bukhari has no appeal,” was the reaction of Lucknow Eidgah Imam and senior executive committee member of All India Muslim Personal Board (AIMPLB) Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangi Mahli when he was reached for his comments on the development. Pointing out that such appeals in democratic set up had

BUKHARI ISSUED SIMILAR APPEALS FOR OTHER PARTIES IN THE PAST. HE EVEN CALLED UPON THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY TO VOTE FOR THE BJP IN 2004 MAULANA KHALID RASHID FIRANGI MAHLI, AIMPLB member

“negative impact”, Rashid said. “Bukhari issued similar appeals for other parties in the past. He even called upon the Muslim community to vote for the BJP in 2004,” he added. Since Bukhari had been hopping around in political parties, the community had stopped taking him seriously, Rashid said and added, “He cannot stay for long anywhere”. However Bukhari told HT over the phone, “I have given my views. I have not claimed that people will follow the appeal”. Bukhari had extended support to the Samajwadi Party in 2012 assembly election. The party had then given ticket to his son-in-law Omer Ali Khan from Behat (Saharanpur) but he lost badly. Thereafter, SP chief Mulayam Singh obliged him by giving a seat to him in the Vidhan Parishad.

The convenor of the Babri Masjid action committee said, “Muslims in UP do not need any guidance. They are quite aware and know their target.” The prominent Muslim organisations like AIMPLB and Jamiat Ulema Hind (JUH) always kept him away. However when asked for comment, JUH chief Maulana Arshad Madni said, “It is Bukhari’s personal matter”. President Pasmanda Muslim Samaj (backward Muslim community) Anis Mansoori alleged “Bukhari had always worked for the promotion of his family members”.

“Bukhari has no concern for the plight of the community,” Mansoori said. Nearly after one year of honeymooning with the SP after installation of the Akhilesh Yadav government in 2012, Bukhari turned hostile against the government after communal clashes erupted in Uttar Pradesh.