Date: Sun, 19 Apr 2009 01:49:45 +0000 [07:19:45 AM IST]
From: Dr A R Mookhi
To: Sultan Shahin Editor@NewAgeIslam.com
Subject: Muslim Vote. Set It Free - to editor
Since the days of Nehru Muslims are prone to vote en bloc. In the process they have converted themselves into a vote bank. Muslim leaders for their own vested interests have been manipulating the community into voting as they, the leaders, desired. A community of such a large size has exposed itself to exploitation. It is encouraged to give prime preference to the issues related only to them.
Even on the eve of this election a leading Muslim organization has recently issued a statement asking Muslims to vote on a single Muslim specific issue to the exclusion of all issues of national importance. Its war-cry is “shun candidates of parties which reject reservation for Muslims on the lines of Mishra Commission”.
The advice of this premiere Muslim organization that Muslims be blind to any other issues is, by no means, a good advice. It asks Muslims to think and act as Muslims thereby separating Muslims out of the mainstream. Such thinking is the recipe for the alienation of the community. The idea of a religious community being asked and being expected to vote as one group is neither an idea of democracy nor that of secularism.
http://newageislam.com/india--muslim-vote,-set-it-free-/letter-to-the-editor/d/1337
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