JEDDAH, 16 October 2003 — Indian Jamaat-e-Islami, an Islamic organization with branches all over the country, has said it wants to consolidate the Muslim votebank and try to prevent “fascists” from grabbing power in the coming general elections.
Professor Siddique Hassan, president of Jamaat in the south Indian state of Kerala, also said the organization would continue its nationwide campaign to promote communal harmony by setting up effective forums.
In an interview with Arab News, the Jamaat leader announced plans to expand the organization’s activities at the grass-roots level and introduce new programs and publish books targeted at non-Muslims.
“At present we don’t have plans to get directly involved in elections as we believe that the time is not yet ripe for such a move. But we want to play a more effective role in politics by supporting candidates who stand for justice, respect moral values and protect constitutional rights,” he said.
“We will establish powerful forums similar to the FDCA (Forum for Democracy and Communal Amity) to unite the ranks of secular-minded people. We will also try to consolidate the Muslim vote-bank,” he said. Muslim votes are crucial in 80 to 100 parliamentary constituencies in India, some 18 percent of all constituencies.
“We would like to promote the concept of a Muslim vote bank to protect the interests of both Islam and the community. We will also launch a campaign to vote for those candidates who support democratic values and work for communal harmony, and we want to set up strong and effective mechanisms for this purpose,” he said.
Jamaat intends to set up a women’s committee at the all-India level to work out a strategic plan for the empowerment of Muslim women. “Our intention is to play a leading role in the efforts to solve the social and cultural problems of women by training capable women with leadership qualities, who could be appointed to Jamaat’s Shoura and the Representatives Councils,” he said. At present there are no women members in the two bodies.Hassan said Jamaat would organize mass protests against human rights violations in the country.
