T. Arifali said the new party would mobilize like-minded people in order to revamp Indian politics on the basis of morality. “The new party will work for promoting communal harmony, safeguarding the country’s identity and independence and eradicating poverty,” Arifali told Arab News.

“Jamaat will play a leading role in the party, which will combat fascism and imperialism. The structure of the party will be ready within a few months.” Arifali added that the formation of the political party would not affect the Jamaat’s Islamic activities. “Our main objective is to establish peace and justice in the country, which is essential for the success of our dawa activities,” he pointed out.

“People have discarded moral values, sexual promiscuity and corruption have become rampant in the country. Communal polarization has started threatening India’s unity and integrity. The divide between the rich and poor is expanding. The new party will address all these issues.”

Referring to Jamaat’s plan to contest the Panchayat elections in Kerala by setting up popular forums with the support of intellectuals, academics and right activists, Arifali said his organization would attempt to strengthen contacts with people and ensure proper utilization of local government funds.

“Some parties in the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the United Democratic Front (UDF) alliances in the state have launched a strident campaign against Jamaat after its declaration to participate in local elections. They allege Jamaat is a communal and anti-democratic organization without citing any solid evidence. When we voted for them in the past elections they did not make any of these allegations,” he said.

He said both the alliances, which have been ruling the state alternately, do not want to share power. “Members of political parties were dividing local government funds between themselves. They fear Jamaat’s intervention would affect their vested interests,” he said.

Arifali said LDF leader Pinaray Vijayan, who reportedly attacked Jamaat, should study the history of Marxism before branding Jamaat as anti-democratic. “His partymen have the right to ask him why he kept mum about Jamaat when it voted LDF candidates to victory in the last Assembly election.”

Arifali described Vijayan’s allegations as baseless.

“People in Kerala are educated and they know why Vijayan came out with these false allegations now, and will throw them into the dustbin,” he said. “CPM (Communist Party Marxist) has lost its political credibility as a result of its capitalistic stand on issues like Kinalur, where it stood with real estate mafias instead of standing with victims.”

He said the smear campaigns would not desist Jamaat from carrying out its mission and going ahead with its public welfare programs that benefit people of all communities in the country. “We’ll establish greater contacts with the public in order to expose the corruptive practices of CPM and other parties.”

He emphasized the need for formulating a third political alliance in Kerala. “Presently, the LDF and UDF have worked out a joint plan to share power, with each alliance getting a chance to rule for five years without any problem. During this period, each party tries to make maximum material benefit, looting public money. We hope that gradually we could develop a third alliance to end this LDF-UDF drama,” he said.

He also said CPM wanted to play the Hindu card in the next assembly and parliamentary elections by distancing Muslims and Christians from the party. “This will have drastic consequences on Kerala’s communal harmony.”

Arifali allayed fears that the formation of the new party would divide Muslim votes. “Muslim League is a party that works only for the Muslim community. On other hand, our party works for the welfare of all people in the country. We are not targeting the league’s votes.”

He spoke about the Intelligence Bureau’s machinations to create false terrorist attacks and police confrontation to incriminate Muslims and cautioned the government against such anti-Muslim moves. He condemned the deliberate attempts by certain parties to frame People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader Abdul Nasser Madani and his wife Soufiya.

The Indian media has played a big role in tarnishing the image of Muslims in the country, he said stressing the need for a strong and impartial visual media that would promote moral values, stand for justice, foster communal harmony and strengthen family bonds.