What is this ‘SECULAR VOTE’ ?

I am making the following observations about the concept of ‘Secular vote’, purely as a concerned Muslim and a concerned Indian citizen.

1. In Varanasi, the sitting M.P. Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi has been thrown away, and Mr. Mukhtar Ansari- the person who was defeated by a narrow margin, is being condemned by Muslims as a vote cutter who will divide ‘Secular vote’  (meaning Muslim vote) to ensure the victory of Narendra Modi. Both Arvind Kejriwal and Narendra Modi are outsiders, and they are considered as the legitimate sharers of the Hindu and Muslim votes respectively.

2. In Azamgarh, Maulana Aamir Rashadi as a Rashtriya Ulema Council candidate is also being termed as a person to divide ‘secular vote’ on the same ground. Mulayam Singh Yadav is an outsider for this area, while Maulana Rashadi is born in Azamgarh and has shown good electoral performance during the last elections,and it is he whose relentless struggle restored a sense of confidence amongst the Muslims of the area which had been projected as a terror hub. So, for Mulayam Singh Yadav, the Muslim vote of the area has become the ancestral property, and Maulana Rashadi is a vote cutter.

3. Whenever, any Muslim based political party fields any candidate in any are, the slavish members of the community dub him as the agent of B.J.B., having come to divide the ‘Secular Vote’.

4. If such people are so strong and capable, they may compel the mutually-conflicting fictitious secular parties to field joint candidates against B.J.P. for the sake of secularism. If these people do not possess that much power, they must also have no moral to call such Muslim candidates as cutters of ‘secular vote’.

5. Whatever the people of my community, having a totally slavish tendency, may call me, but I have not the slightest hesitation in asserting , that they themselves are the part of some larger conspiracy to make Indian Muslims totally dead under the garb of secularism.If it is the brand of ‘ secularism’ and ‘secular vote’, I am sure that it is more disastrous than naked fascism, and the people who are supporting it are the real enemies of the community.

Dr. Mustafa Kamal Sherwani,LL.D.
Lucknow
sherwanimk@yahoo.com
+91-9919777909

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