Shahi Imam announces support for the Congress

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Apr 4, 2014: One of the country’s most important religious Muslim leaders has announced support for the Congress in the general election beginning next week.

Syed Ahmed Bukhari, the Shahi Imam of the Jama Masjid mosque in Delhi, said today, "We had discussions with Sonia Gandhi. For elections 2014, I announce support for the Congress but on condition that they will fulfill their promises if they come to power. We have to stand united against communal forces."

Imam Bukhari had flummoxed the Muslim community by endorsing BJP’s Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the 2004 election. At the time, the Congress won 36 per cent of Muslim votes, and BJP could win only seven per cent, a sign that the Imam’s endorsement failed to influence the Muslim vote.

Five years later, the cleric backed the Congress, to almost identical results in polls.

Today he also said he would not support the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), accusing them of opportunistic politics.

"The Samajwadi Party failed to protect Muslims," he said, referring to the September Muzaffarnagar riots in which nearly 60 people were killed and thousands driven out of their villages.

Imam Bukhari’s meeting with Sonia Gandhi earlier this week was described by the BJP as an attempt by the Congress president to polarize the vote by religion. The BJP registered its complaint with the Election Commission because Mrs Gandhi reportedly asked the Shahi Imam and other Muslim leaders accompanying him to ensure the minority vote in India is not split.

"This is a shameless attempt by Sonia and Rahul Gandhi to polarise voters. The Election Commission should take note," the BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad said today after the Imam’s declaration.

Yesterday, the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi attacked Mrs Gandhi for "open communalism." Sonia Gandhi has denied the charge, telling reporters, "We are not in the habit or in the game of polarising the elections."