http://www.eng.chauthiduniya.com/2011/05/welfare-party-in-uttar-pradesh
A Catholic priest recited Gayatri Mantra at the inauguration ceremony of the Welfare Party. Certainly surprising as the party is the brainchild of India’s foremost Islamic outfit Jamat e Islami Hind. Sadly there is not even a single party which actually thinks about the welfare and development of Muslims. They are only agile at raising slogans. This is why it has been quite difficult to believe that a party could work for their elevation, fight for their issues and raise their voice in Parliament. So, what is so special and conforting about Welfare Party? Would it be able to raise their issues that have been moth balled for ages?
Interestingly, the political parties play a major role in parliamentary democracy. There are around 1200 political parties in the country out of which 6 are national, 44 are state level, and 1152 are regional parties. Recently, Baba Ramdev also announced to launch a party. However, there are few questions which need to be answered. What was the need of this organization to come up with a party? Certainly, it raises questions regarding its longstanding image of being a benign religious-cultural organization. What is the ideology of this party? Would it be an exclusively Muslim party and work only for their uplift? Will it contest elections? Who all will be its coalition partners? What will be the social, political and economic outlook of this party? There are many such questions which have been intriguing, especially, the Muslims.
Jamaat e Islami was formed on 26 August 1941 in Lahore. After the partition of country the organisation was also divided. It is still there in Pakistan and Bangladesh. It has been active in politics too. The organisation has been constrained in India twice. First, during time of emergency and then in the year 1992.
Ban was removed once emergency was over and the second time, Supreme Court removed the ban. The apex court stated that Jamat e Islami is political, secular and religious organisation. Notably, the organisation has more than 10 lac members. There is a general opinion that members of Jamat are very disciplined and honest. It runs many welfare schemes in country. There is a women front of this organisation too, which is very active in Andhra Pradesh and Kerela. There is a branch of Jamat e Islami known as Human Welfare Trust which coordinates with several NGOs, working for human rights and welfare. Besides, there is a student’s wing popularly known as Student’s Islamic Organisation of India, active in Andhra Pradesh and Kerela. Jamat e Islami Hind is the biggest organisation of Muslims in the country.
It is important to know the ideology of this party. Will it just raise the issues of Muslims or even deal with national issues. To understand this it is important to know its policy document of the year 2006 known as Vision 2016. An action plan of 550 crore was prepared by Jamat e Islami to educate the poor Muslims and for their health and housing. Under this plan around 58 backward districts were singled out. In these districts there was a provision to provide facilities of school, hospital, business training centres, small industry and providing loans for free houses. The ideology of Jamat e Islami is against liberalism, capitalism and globalisation. According to Jamat e Islami, to provide basic facilities to its people is the responsibility of government. It abhors any mention of terrorism. The foreign policy of Jamat is anti- America. Jamat plays an active role in elections. During the election it makes strategy in every state. In the recent Assembly elections in Kerela , the left democratic front of Kerela of CPI(M) got support of Jamat. Till now Jamat has supported only secular parties in elections. Allegations were levelled that it supports BJP in elections.
The relation of Jamat e Islami with politics is nothing new. Earlier it used to work as a pressure group; consequently it has transformed into a political party. The only difference is that now it will contest elections. The question arises what was the need for the leaders of Jamat to contest elections. On asked about this they say, in independent India Muslims feel insecure no and infelicitously no political party has ever tried to help them. It is important that a party should be formed that could work for Muslims. The senior member of Jamat and President of Welfare party of India Muztaba Faruk said that seeing the deteriorating plight of Muslims they should have made the party quite earlier. “Our aim is not just to be another political party. This is an alternative that will be a voice of all of us. The executive of Welfare party will have 31 members, including Iliyas Azmi, Father Ibrahim Joseph, Maulana Abdul Wahab Khilji, Maulana Jarful Islam Khan and Lalita Nair Vice President. S.Q.R Iliyas , Suhail Ahmed, Prof Rama Panchal, Khalida Parvin ,P.C Hazama were appointed as secretaries. Besides, Prof Rama Surya Rao , Akhtar Hussain, Omar Rashid and Subramaniam will be secretaries of the party.
The first target of Welfare Part of Jamat e Islami is the elections in Uttar Pradesh as of now the party will interfere in southern states and politics of Uttar Pradesh. Certainly, if Jamat will be able to gain support of Muslims in Uttar Pradesh, it will definitely lead to political tsunami as it will have a major impact on all the political parties. The party which will benefit the most is BJP. On the contrary Samajwadi Party is expected to incur heavy loss. The Chief Secretary of Samajwadi Party and parliamentarian Mohan Singh opines, “This is BJP’s hoodwinking. If Welfare Party will fight elections people will dismiss the contestants. The religious organisations have no role in politics.” He further says, “Jamat e Islami should confine itself to religious ambit and must not take the throw its hat in political arena.” Significantly most of the Muslims in Uttar Pradesh are supporters of Samajwadi party. In this case it might affect the vote bank of Samajwadi party. Rahul Gandhi is busy in strengthening his party. In previous Lok Sabha elections Congress did well as in Purvanchal which is Muslim dominated; Congress had an upper hand over the Muslims. However, Jamat is also powerful in these regions. Also, Congress has been unsuccessful in implementing the recommendation of Sachchar Committee and Ranganath Mishra Commission Reports. This might affect its vote bank. The condition of Muslims is no better than Dalits . But, there are many dalit political parties in the country.
Suffice to say that the beginning of Welfare Party has been quite satisfactory. There is no dearth of workers and their ideology is quite clear. Though, the party will face leadership crisis as it is indispensable for any Muslim party to have a strong leader who represents them and becomes a paragon for not just one community but for the entire nation. Indeed, the greatest challenge for Jamat e Islami.
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A Catholic priest recited Gayatri Mantra at the inauguration ceremony of the Welfare Party. Certainly surprising as the party is the brainchild of India’s foremost Islamic outfit Jamat e Islami Hind. Sadly there is not even a single party which actually thinks about the welfare and development of Muslims. They are only agile at raising slogans. This is why it has been quite difficult to believe that a party could work for their elevation, fight for their issues and raise their voice in Parliament. So, what is so special and conforting about Welfare Party? Would it be able to raise their issues that have been moth balled for ages?Interestingly, the political parties play a major role in parliamentary democracy. There are around 1200 political parties in the country out of which 6 are national, 44 are state level, and 1152 are regional parties. Recently, Baba Ramdev also announced to launch a party. However, there are few questions which need to be answered. What was the need of this organization to come up with a party? Certainly, it raises questions regarding its longstanding image of being a benign religious-cultural organization. What is the ideology of this party? Would it be an exclusively Muslim party and work only for their uplift? Will it contest elections? Who all will be its coalition partners? What will be the social, political and economic outlook of this party? There are many such questions which have been intriguing, especially, the Muslims.
Jamaat e Islami was formed on 26 August 1941 in Lahore. After the partition of country the organisation was also divided. It is still there in Pakistan and Bangladesh. It has been active in politics too. The organisation has been constrained in India twice. First, during time of emergency and then in the year 1992.
Ban was removed once emergency was over and the second time, Supreme Court removed the ban. The apex court stated that Jamat e Islami is political, secular and religious organisation. Notably, the organisation has more than 10 lac members. There is a general opinion that members of Jamat are very disciplined and honest. It runs many welfare schemes in country. There is a women front of this organisation too, which is very active in Andhra Pradesh and Kerela. There is a branch of Jamat e Islami known as Human Welfare Trust which coordinates with several NGOs, working for human rights and welfare. Besides, there is a student’s wing popularly known as Student’s Islamic Organisation of India, active in Andhra Pradesh and Kerela. Jamat e Islami Hind is the biggest organisation of Muslims in the country.
It is important to know the ideology of this party. Will it just raise the issues of Muslims or even deal with national issues. To understand this it is important to know its policy document of the year 2006 known as Vision 2016. An action plan of 550 crore was prepared by Jamat e Islami to educate the poor Muslims and for their health and housing. Under this plan around 58 backward districts were singled out. In these districts there was a provision to provide facilities of school, hospital, business training centres, small industry and providing loans for free houses. The ideology of Jamat e Islami is against liberalism, capitalism and globalisation. According to Jamat e Islami, to provide basic facilities to its people is the responsibility of government. It abhors any mention of terrorism. The foreign policy of Jamat is anti- America. Jamat plays an active role in elections. During the election it makes strategy in every state. In the recent Assembly elections in Kerela , the left democratic front of Kerela of CPI(M) got support of Jamat. Till now Jamat has supported only secular parties in elections. Allegations were levelled that it supports BJP in elections.
The relation of Jamat e Islami with politics is nothing new. Earlier it used to work as a pressure group; consequently it has transformed into a political party. The only difference is that now it will contest elections. The question arises what was the need for the leaders of Jamat to contest elections. On asked about this they say, in independent India Muslims feel insecure no and infelicitously no political party has ever tried to help them. It is important that a party should be formed that could work for Muslims. The senior member of Jamat and President of Welfare party of India Muztaba Faruk said that seeing the deteriorating plight of Muslims they should have made the party quite earlier. “Our aim is not just to be another political party. This is an alternative that will be a voice of all of us. The executive of Welfare party will have 31 members, including Iliyas Azmi, Father Ibrahim Joseph, Maulana Abdul Wahab Khilji, Maulana Jarful Islam Khan and Lalita Nair Vice President. S.Q.R Iliyas , Suhail Ahmed, Prof Rama Panchal, Khalida Parvin ,P.C Hazama were appointed as secretaries. Besides, Prof Rama Surya Rao , Akhtar Hussain, Omar Rashid and Subramaniam will be secretaries of the party.
The first target of Welfare Part of Jamat e Islami is the elections in Uttar Pradesh as of now the party will interfere in southern states and politics of Uttar Pradesh. Certainly, if Jamat will be able to gain support of Muslims in Uttar Pradesh, it will definitely lead to political tsunami as it will have a major impact on all the political parties. The party which will benefit the most is BJP. On the contrary Samajwadi Party is expected to incur heavy loss. The Chief Secretary of Samajwadi Party and parliamentarian Mohan Singh opines, “This is BJP’s hoodwinking. If Welfare Party will fight elections people will dismiss the contestants. The religious organisations have no role in politics.” He further says, “Jamat e Islami should confine itself to religious ambit and must not take the throw its hat in political arena.” Significantly most of the Muslims in Uttar Pradesh are supporters of Samajwadi party. In this case it might affect the vote bank of Samajwadi party. Rahul Gandhi is busy in strengthening his party. In previous Lok Sabha elections Congress did well as in Purvanchal which is Muslim dominated; Congress had an upper hand over the Muslims. However, Jamat is also powerful in these regions. Also, Congress has been unsuccessful in implementing the recommendation of Sachchar Committee and Ranganath Mishra Commission Reports. This might affect its vote bank. The condition of Muslims is no better than Dalits . But, there are many dalit political parties in the country.
Suffice to say that the beginning of Welfare Party has been quite satisfactory. There is no dearth of workers and their ideology is quite clear. Though, the party will face leadership crisis as it is indispensable for any Muslim party to have a strong leader who represents them and becomes a paragon for not just one community but for the entire nation. Indeed, the greatest challenge for Jamat e Islami.