Islam and Politics
Indian Elections: Mysteries of The Muslim Mood
By Seema Mustafa
It is also for the first time that Muslims are being attracted to such parties, post-Independence, with organisations like the Jamaat-e-Islami unable to open their accounts in State and Parliamentary elections over the years. Madani, whose initial Islamic Sevak Sangh was banned in 1993 in Kerala, who lost a leg in a bomb blast, and who was arrested for his alleged involvement in the Coimbatore blasts in 1998 spending ten long years in prison before being acquitted of all charges, is emerging as a major force in Kerala. “My position is that the Muslim community cannot go as a separate group, that is not good. We have to go with secular forces, that alone will be good for the community,” he said. To prove his change of heart he has emerged as a major campaigner for the LDF, with the CPI[M] joining issue with ally Janata Dal[S] to get Madani’s candidate the Ponnani seat in Kerala. Dr Hussein is contesting as an Independent, but Madani’s campaign has consolidated the sizeable Muslim vote in the constituency. He has also campaigned amongst Muslims for the LDF, taking up the nuclear deal and the strategic alliance with the US, defence relations with Israel as some of the key issues. He is positive that the LDF will get between 10-13 seats in Kerala, and the Muslim League “will lose heavily”. Madani’s PDP is all set to replace the Muslim League in Kerala as an LDF, and not UDF, ally.
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5:08 AM
Moderate Islamist here
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