JEDDAH, 25 May 2004 — Indian expats celebrated the victories of Congress and MIM parties in the Andhra Pradesh Lok Sabha and state elections here recently.
The meeting, presided by Ziauddin Nayyar, started with the recitation of Qur’an by Qari Abdul Basith Abdul Bari.
Qutubuddin Khan conducted the proceedings, with Naeem Javeed, Aleem Khan Falki, Ahmed Siddique and Muhammad Aqeel on the dais.
Javeed said voters, mainly from southern India, showed their preference for secular forces like they always did. “Unfortunately, Chandrababu Naidu became the first leader of the south who deviated from this formula,” he said.
“The dark period is over,” Falki said. “Today, we feel the same joy as we felt in 1990 when communism fell apart, or when the United States will quit Iraq.”
Siddique expressed his joy over the election results and the victory of secular forces. “People of India were eager to know the election results and they were overjoyed that the communal forces had been rejected.”
Aqeel said his observation was that people rejected those forces that wanted to divide the country. “These forces never took part in the freedom struggle and had no links with the masses.”
Nayyar said the election results proved that there was no danger to democracy and secularism in the country.