Don’t treat Indian Muslims as vote banks

>> Sameer Arshad Khatlanibdnews24.com
Published : 17 April 2014, 10:00 AM
Updated : 17 April 2014, 10:00 AM

Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari’s appeal seeking ’secular votes particularly that of Muslims’ for the Congress nationally and Trinamool Congress in West Bengal ahead of the Lok Sabha polls kicked up a storm recently. It provoked angry newspaper columns, editorials and hours of prime time debate on TV channels. As has been the case with the self-styled community leaders, the media offered disproportionate attention to the imam. The pressing issues of education, employment, security, marginalisation and ghettoization were as usual lost in the din. The same old debates on clerical hold on Muslims followed even as they have repeatedly been proved to be bogus due to diversity and scattered nature of the community. Muslims voting preferences vary from place to place, depending on the alternatives they have to the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in their respective states. (Read More)