HYDERABAD, 10 November — Strong protests from Muslim groups seem to be compelling Andhra Pradesh’s ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to change its mind about holding a religious meeting at this capital city’s biggest mosque.
The Minority Welfare Department had permitted the party to hold a meeting at the Macca Masjid Friday, but some Muslim political leaders, including top members of the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), threatened to stop TDP leaders from entering the mosque.
As the police fear the situation could take an ugly turn in the fasting month of Ramadan, the government appears almost certain to reconsider its decision. An announcement is expected within a couple of days. Chief Minister and TDP President Chandrababu Naidu on Friday had consultations with Higher Education and Minorities Welfare Minister N. Muhammad Farooq on the issue.
The Minorities Welfare Department, which run the affairs of the Macca Masjid, Wednesday permitted the TDP to hold a Qur’an Day meeting at the mosque on the second Friday of the Ramadan falling on Nov. 15.
The MIM was permitted to hold meetings on two Ramadan Fridays, the first and last, while its rival Majlis Bachao Tehreek (MBT) was allowed to hold one meeting on the third Friday. This is the first time the TDP has been permitted to hold a Qur’an Day meeting.
MIM, which has been organizing these meetings for four decades, has termed the TDP’s intervention in the mosque as “provocative” and has vowed to prevent it from turning the mosque into a political platform.
At the meeting on Ramadan’s first Friday, MIM leaders appealed to the religious leaders to issue a “fatwa” or edict to prevent the TDP from addressing a religious congregation at the mosque.
“We will not allow them (TDP leaders) to misuse the mosque, come what may,” said MIM legislator Akbaruddin Owaisi, whose party has slammed the TDP for allying with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s Hindu extremist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is perceived as being pro-Hindu.
“The move is provocative and aimed at creating trouble. How can the TDP, which is an ally of the anti-Muslim BJP, address a religious meeting at a mosque?” asked Asaduddin Owaisi, the MIM floor leader in the assembly.
MBT President Amanullah Khan, who demanded that the ruling party not be allowed to hold the religious meeting, alleged that the MIM had made way for the TDP on one F0riday because it was afraid of his party’s growing popularity.
This is not the first time that controversy has hit the Qur’an Day meetings at Macca Masjid. In 1996, a religious group called the Qur’an Society had moved court to prevent the MIM from addressing these meetings. The Supreme Court, however, left the decision to the state government.
The Qur’an Day meetings are organized after Friday prayers to highlight the teachings of Islam’s holy book, but the MIM and MBT also use the occasion to target each other and their other political opponents.
