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Delhi polls: Shahi Imam dials AAP to defeat his local MLA

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Aditya Menon
Aditya MenonFeb 07, 2015 | 00:28

Delhi polls: Shahi Imam dials AAP to defeat his local MLA

Four quick facts about Jama Masjid Shahi Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari before we move on to his announcement of support to the Aam Aadmi Party in the Delhi assembly elections. First, he is not a religious scholar, nor was his father who appointed him as his successor and neither is his 19-year-old son Shaban Bukhari who was made Naib Shahi Imam in a controversial dastarbandi ceremony last year. Second, the hereditary Imamat of the Jama Masjid has no validity. The Jama Masjid falls under the jurisdiction of the Delhi Waqf Board and in that sense, Bukhari is nothing but an employee of the Waqf Board. Third, according to the Waqf Board, all the income from the Masjid goes to Bukhari. And this has allegedly helped him and his family acquire immense wealth in the past few decades. Fourth, every major political party, from the Congress to the BJP and the Samajwadi Party, have done business with Bukhari or his father at some point of time or the other. Given these four facts, one thing is clear: Bukhari is not an Imam, he is a politician. But unlike other politicians, he doesn't need to fight an election. His power stems from the pulpit he occupies.

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It is a great misfortune for the Muslim community that Bukhari continues to control the Jama Masjid, a mosque with immense historic and temporal significance. And he, and his father before him, managed to maintain control over the Masjid because both the Congress and BJP remained mute spectators to their activities. AAP has done the right thing by spurning and condemning his support.

So why has Bukhari advised voters to vote for AAP this time?

Surely the reason cannot be that he wants to ensure the BJP's defeat. Because if Bukhari was so concerned about defeating communal forces, why did he support the BJP in the 2004 general elections, just two years after the Gujarat riots?

Here's what Bukhari had said on the eve of the 2004 elections: "BJP had recently displayed its wish to come closer to Muslims and we should not have a negative approach but vote with positive thinking." To make it even more ridiculous, Bukhari conveniently side-stepped questions on the 2002 Gujarat riots and blamed the Congress and SP for keeping Muslims away from the BJP.

Bukhari's "fatwas" have nothing to do with the need to protect Indian Muslims or their welfare, it has to do with his own political ambitious. His support to AAP is largely to do with his rivalry with Matia Mahal MLA Shoaib Iqbal. Matia Mahal includes the area around Jama Masjid and there have been frequent clashes between the Bukhari's supporters and those of the MLA. In September 2006, there was a massive clash between their supporters after Iqbal and Bukhari delivered parallel speeches against each other. The violence ended only after the Rapid Action Force arrived. Bukhari has consistently issued fatwas calling for the defeat of Iqbal but unsuccessfully. And when Bukhari supported the BJP in the 2004 general elections, Iqbal did the opposite: he withdrew his candidature in favour of Congress candidate Kapil Sibal.

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Despite Bukhari's opposition, Iqbal has been undefeated from Matia Mahal since 1993. As Iqbal contested on the ticket of the Janata Dal and its splinter groups like the Janata Dal (Secular), Lok Janshakti Party and Janata Dal (United), Bukhari mostly supported the Congress in assembly elections to try and defeat Iqbal. This time Iqbal is contesting on a Congress ticket but his citadel has become shaky because of an AAP surge. Bukhari smells blood. He senses that an AAP wave has the potential of dislodging Iqbal from Matia Mahal. Another MLA, Chaudhry Mateen Ahmed from Seelampur, had also been at cross purposes with Bukhari. Under the Congress government, Ahmed was the chairman of the Waqf Board and was involved in frequent tugs of war with Bukhari over the Jama Masjid. Ahmed has repeatedly criticised Bukhari for treating the Masjid as his personal fiefdom. Ahmed, like Iqbal, won from Seelampur on a Janata Dal ticket in 1993. He won as an independent in 1998 before moving to the Congress. Veteran Muslim leaders like Iqbal and Ahmed have been a threat for Bukhari for long. He believes that if they are defeated by AAP this time, the inexperienced Muslim leaders of the neophyte party won't be able to challenge him as effectively.

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Bukhari and his father's authority stemmed from the ability to act as middlemen for political parties in their efforts to woo the Muslim community. If the previous Shahi Imam leveraged Indira Gandhi's birth control programme to assert his clout in the 1970s, Bukhari used his proximity with the BJP to increase his influence between 1999 and 2004.  His advice has no relevance even in the Jama Masjid area, leave alone for the entire Muslim community.

Last updated: February 07, 2015 | 00:28
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