May 28:
Maulana Khalid Mujahid’s death on 19th of this month, who died in mysterious circumstances, and how he died, under what conditions he died, who are the people responsible for his death, all these things have been highlighted by Urdu media and websites related to Muslim issues and I don’t think that there is any need to repeat them again.
Since last so many days, I am observing newspapers and other media sources especially Urdu newspapers and media, so as to know what is being done in different cities of Uttar Pradesh (U.P.) to protest against this heinous crime and I also wanted know that how many Muslim political leaders have come forward to speak and protest against this atrocity. During these days I observed the happenings in prominent Muslim dominated cities of UP especially Lucknow, Aligarh, Rampur, Deoband, Bareilly, Saharanpur, Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Azamgarh and Jaunpur.
After thoroughly examining the newspapers since last Monday, one thing is proved that Muslims political leadership in U.P. have frozen their mouth and legitimately they can be declared ‘dead’ except few Muslim political parties.
The self-proclaimed Muslim leadership of the state has proved that they are cowards and are betraying the community by not expressing solidarity with the family members of the deceased. They are not coming forward and speaking against the cold-blooded murder of an innocent Muslim youth, also the so-called secular parties of state including Congress, BSP and SP have kept their mouth shut and are desisting to speak on this heinous crime. Moreover, the 70 elected Muslim MLAs of State and more than a dozen MPs (barring a few) are shamelessly hiding their faces. Their consciousness is totally dead, which is evident from the fact that none of the law makers have given any statement on this issue, what to talk about expressing solidarity with the deceased and his family and coming forward to speak for this just cause.
The Muslim leaders of Congress maintained a stoic silence on this issue and majority of the Muslim leaders of BSP preferred not to speak anything on the issue. While the leaders of Samajwadi Party instead of doing and saying anything preferred to abstain from the Namaz-e-Janaza of late Khalid Mujahid. Smaller parties of UP like Peace Party, Ulema Council, Indian National League etc. protested and tried their best to organise protest against this brutal killing in some districts. All the Muslim ministers of UP remained silent and didn’t bother to see the deceased family members. According to victim’s uncle Zaheer Ahmad Falahi not a single minister, MP, MLA, MLC or any important leader of ruling Samajwadi Party didn’t even make a call to condole the death and console the bereaved family. (Daily Inquilab 23.5.13)
The ruling SP Government, which last year rode on the hopes and aspirations of Muslim youths and came to power with an overwhelming majority has failed to protect the interests of the Muslims. There are innumerable examples of it and the recent one is the death of Maulana Khalid Mujahid.
Till date, I can’t find any statement by any of the Muslim Minister of U.P. regarding the death of Maulana Khalid Mujahid. How mean and coward they are, that they are not even able to stand by the family of deceased and console them. I am surprised to see that a Muslim minister of U.P. who is considered to be the most powerful of all Muslim leaders in the ruling party is missing these days, when he is required most, which is a matter of great shame.
Several prominent religious leaders have spoken on this issue and have protested against this, but the intensity of their protest is not that, as it should be. Muslim organisations like Jamiat Ulema, the Milli Council, Jamat-e-Islami, Ulema Council, and Indian National League have given their statement and have demanded strict punishment against the culprit.
If we talk about State capital Lucknow, there are so many well versed religious scholars of International fame, even they didn’t take the trouble to speak against this ghastly incident. They all went on a silent mode on this, anyhow, several lesser known scholars and non-political organizations protested against this incident in which ordinary people were involved rather than the so-called Muslim leaders, about whom I am surprised to see that they didn’t even uttered a single word on this tragic incident.
After Lucknow, if we look at Aligarh, there also in these eight days no Muslim leader, intellectual, student leader, social worker came forward to protest against the brutal killing of Khalid Mujahid. However, Aligarh Muslim University Teacher’s Association, (AMUTA), came forward and denounced this brutal killing of Maulana Khalid Mujahid and categorically termed this act as black chapter in the history of UP. It also rejected the fabricated story of the police & said this is not an incident of death in police custody but it is a case of cold-blooded murder. It also condemned the ruling Samajwadi government for its luke warm approach on this incident & said that it has failed to fulfil the promises for Muslims, which it made in its manifesto. It at the same time demanded suitable compensation for the family of deceased and a time bound CBI inquiry in to the matter. I congratulate the executive committee of AMUTA in general its president Prof. Hamid Ali & its dynamic secretary Dr Aftab Alam in particular for this timely resolution. Babri Masjid Action Committee also Aligarh also protested against the death of Maulana Khalid Mujahid.
The prominent political leaders of Rampur, Saharanpur, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Bareilly, Sitapur, Kanpur, Allahabad etc. didn’t utter a single word about this incident and tried their best to toe the official line of their respective parties i.e. not speak on this issue. Congratulations to the Milli organisations, social organisations, concerned Muslims and Ulema, for demonstrating and protesting against this incident and this pattern is continued till date. In the above mentioned districts very strong political families are pre dominating the political scenes and dozens of Muslim MLAs, MPs and ministers are residing but they are shamelessly silent on this issue. Don’t you think that the time has come to replace them?
Organisations like Rihai Manch and its activists like Shoeb Advocate, Sandeep Pandey, S.R. Darapuri, Advocate Randhir Suman, Mohammad Khalid (ISHU) etc. deserves congratulations for raising this issue and sitting on indefinite dharna in front of UP Vidhan Sabha.
The main motive behind this article is to highlight the apathy, insensitiveness, selfishness and undesirable behaviour of flag bearers of Muslim political leadership in UP, who instead of coming on the roads & protesting and doing something for the aggrieved family, went underground at this critical juncture when they were required most. It’s shameful on their part. And if the attitude of Muslim leaders in UP will remain the same, then one can easily predict the conditions of Muslims in the days to come. From the above it can be safely concluded that the Muslim leadership in so called secular parties have failed miserably to lead the community. I can conclude for the Muslim leadership that they are dead and we can recite
(Dr. Shakeel Samdani, is law faculty member of Aligarh Muslim University, (AMU), Aligarh. His e-mail ID is:drshakeelsamdani@gmail.com)
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