New Delhi: After discussing for over 30 years, passing through different experience for over a decade and testing waters for 6 years, and after intense preparations for over 2 years, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind has successfully steered launching a “non-communal” political party named Welfare Party of India (WPI) on 18th April in New Delhi. It was in 1977 when Jamaat-e-Islami in principle took a stand in favor of Secular Democracy to defeat dictatorial tendencies evident during 21 month long black period of emergency imposed in 1975. Jamaat workers joined a political movement led by Jay Parkash Narain, Syed Abdulllah Bukhari and others, which culminated in regime change in New Delhi.
Under the patronage of Maulana Shafi Moonis (May 1, 1915- 6 April-2011), a most distinguished strategist and activist of Jamaat for over 50 years, a platform, “Forum for Secular Democracy and Communal Harmony” was launched in 1993 in the backdrop of unjust ban on the Jamaat after demolition of Babri Masjid. The aim of the forum was to bring non-communal secular elements close and co-operate to redress sufferings of unprivileged and discriminated sections of the society. Maulana favored the idea that in a democratic setup, which is governed by a secular (non communal and non-partisan) constitution, swearing by which we demand our rights in this country; there is no harm to participate in political activity, provided our aim “total transformation of the society in a just and no-partisan system with charity in the hearts” remains intact. Sitting outside the fence, we cannot help clear the filth and cleanse the political culture. We are duty bound to strive for building a system based on justice and charity and elimination of monetary, political, physical and intellectual corruption. Though the platform irked many in orthodox Jamaat members, but it was undoubtedly an encouraging experience to end alienation of Jamaat from political fraternity and create a healthy pressure group. Incarnation of WPI is a step further in the same direction.
Taking a leaf from Justice and Welfare Party of Turkey, and rethinking of Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwanul-Muslimeen) in Egypt Jamaat-e-Islami decided to take a leap and emerge on the political arena without compromising its present programs and activities in different religious and social fields. We can only hope that this will be a hard task. Emergence of a new organization with the association of large dedicated cadre of JIHind will surely be a challenge for many. Thoughtless criticism has already started especially in Urdu Media. We hope that the new outfit will desist from aggressive and confrontanist approach against the establishment and will adhere to value based activity.
Reporting on the launch of WPI, Manoj C G noted in Indian Express: A Christian priest reciting the Gaybatri Mantra at the launch of a new political party at the helm of which are top functionaries of the Jamaat-e-Islami-e-Hind, created a perfect secular backdrop for the leadership to assert that it was neither a Muslim party nor the political arm of the Jamaat.
Anxious not be seen as a Muslim-exclusive party, has non-Muslims, including a Catholic priest, in its ranks. The leadership of the WPI insisted it was a secular (read non-communal) party upholding the principles of justice, freedom and equality and seeking empowerment of the weak, oppressed and marginalised sections.
Manoj noted, the inclusion of Father Abraham Joseph, a priest from Kerala, as one of the vice-presidents, seems to have proved beneficial. To give WPI the non-Muslim tinge, he recited the Gayatri Mantra, much to the surprise of the gathering. “There is no harm. Nothing has happened here. We are one. We love each other,” the priest said. Joseph, the first Catholic priest to enter active politics, said that he has the permission of the Church.
The first challenge for the WPI would be the forthcoming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. Farooque. Addressing a press conference after the launch, said the party would join hands with like-minded political organisations. He rejected the notion that WPI was a Jamaat venture and argued that Jamaat has permitted some of its members to join the party.
Vidya Subrahmaniam while reporting in ‘The Hindu” was not so sure of non communal characte of the Party as : “two key office-bearers of the new party are from the JIH — Mujtaba Farooque, who is the president of WPI, is also a secretary of the JIH. Similarly, WPI's senior general secretary, SQR Ilyas, is a Majlis-e-Shoora member of the JIH.” He pointed out that of the 16 office-bearers announced, 11 were Muslims. This is a wrong assumption that presence of More Muslims will essentially make it a “no-Secular” that means “Communal” party. This assumption is the denial of the fact that majority of Hindus and Muslims of this country are non-communal. Neither associations predominant by Hindus, like communist parties, Congress, SP and BSP etc are communal nor the WPI will be a communal.
On dual presence of Mr. Farooq and Mr. Ilyas in the JIH and WPI it was clarified that “the Jamaat, which had till now prohibited its members from joining political parties, had lifted the ban enabling him and others to float the new party. Addressing the press conference, Mr. Ilyas insisted that the WPI would act as a secular political formation, dedicated to the interests of the poor and the marginalised. Over time it would reflect India's plural character, with members admitted from different caste, communities and regions. But most importantly, the party would represent “alternative politics, emerging as the voice of the voiceless, as a hope for equity and justice, and as a harbinger of new India.”
Mr. Ilyas read out the party's core objectives, including high moral standards and ethical values, inclusiveness and equity and empowerment of the weak. When it was pointed out that every political party made pretty much the same promises; Mr. Ilyas said, “Only those individuals will be allowed into the party who can prove by word and deed their commitment to the values and vision of the party.”
Reporting from the launching function Md. Ali quoted the founder President of WPI:“It’s not for fun and power that we entered politics. It’s only when everybody whom we trusted and became dependent upon, betrayed us and considered it’s their due right to oppress us. We felt that now we can’t continue with this kind of political system.”
“The criminalization, communalization, commercialization and the sectarianization of politics are the biggest evils of our prevailing political culture and the WPI is committed to start a new era of value-based politics,” added Farooque. “We might be late in terms of our arrival on the political stage but we promise you that with our genuine and sincere efforts we will try to create an alternative political culture,” added the President.
The WPI is the result of coming together of several concerned civil society representatives belonging to different backgrounds, communities, classes and social and political groups. Prominent of them include Father Abraham Joseph, Lalitha Nair, a former Karnataka minister and the prominent social activist from the state, Zafarul Islam Khan, Editor, The Milli Gazette fortnightly, Ilyas Azmi, former MP and senior leader of BSP, Prof. Rama Panchal, an eminent social activist from Madhya Pradesh, Prof. Sohail Ahmad Khan, former chairman, Bihar Minority Commission, Prof. Rama Surya Rao, an academician besides several others.
The convention was also attended by dalit leaders including Tej Singh, president, Ambedkar Samaj Party who offered his full support and cooperation to the WPI in future.
Father Abraham Joseph and Mrs. Lalitha Nair are among five vice-presidents of new outfit. Mr. Ilyas Azmi, former M.P. (BSP), Dr. Zafarul Islam Khan, Editor Milli Gazette Fortnightly and Maulana Abdul Wahab Khilji of Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadis are other vice-presidents.
The five general secretaries of the WPI are Dr. SQR Ilyas, Prof. Sohail Ahmad Khan, Prof. Rama Panchal, Mrs. Khalida Parveen and Mr. PC Hamza. Mr. Abdus Salam M has been made its treasurer. The party has started with just 203 members but will soon start a membership drive across the country.
Mr. Ali reported in TC.net, the occasion saw lots of speeches about ideal state of politics. SQR Ilyas, general secretary of WPI, for instance said that, “We wanted to show that even an ordinary person on the street can empower him/herself by becoming part of alternative democratic politics and that’s why launched WPI.”
Mujtaba Farooque, president of WPI said that “at present there are only two categories of people living in India, one is getting poorer day by day. It’s a class which can’t spend even 20 rupees per day and the other is getting only richer and richer. We want to change this oppressive process of marginalization by bringing about change through political participation.”
The WPI aims at realizing a value based welfare state governed by the principles of justice, freedom, equality and fraternity. It will strive for the establishment of the welfare state by recognizing and realizing the right to livelihood.
The other thing high on the agenda of WPI is facilitating “equitable, just and inclusive growth” besides bringing about empowerment of the weak and oppressed through “affirmative action realizing the principle of social justice.”
WPI leaders specifically emphasized the protection of cultural diversity by providing full opportunities to different cultures to thrive and realize the “notion of linguistic, geographical and cultural federalism.
With a middle class and media led campaign against corruption, the disease also found mention in the party press note. WPI claimed to stand against any kind of corruption and will advocate for “mechanisms of accountability and transparency at all levels of public life.”
Sending a positive message to the fairer sex, the party’s aims and objectives specifically talk about women rights in unique words. It mentions facilitating “equal growth and development opportunities for women” so that “their femininity is respected and protected in its true spirit.”
There are around 1200 political parties including 6 national parties, 44 regional parties and 1152 local political outfits in India. It’s yet to be seen whether the Welfare Party of India bring about some change or just increase the country.
Under the patronage of Maulana Shafi Moonis (May 1, 1915- 6 April-2011), a most distinguished strategist and activist of Jamaat for over 50 years, a platform, “Forum for Secular Democracy and Communal Harmony” was launched in 1993 in the backdrop of unjust ban on the Jamaat after demolition of Babri Masjid. The aim of the forum was to bring non-communal secular elements close and co-operate to redress sufferings of unprivileged and discriminated sections of the society. Maulana favored the idea that in a democratic setup, which is governed by a secular (non communal and non-partisan) constitution, swearing by which we demand our rights in this country; there is no harm to participate in political activity, provided our aim “total transformation of the society in a just and no-partisan system with charity in the hearts” remains intact. Sitting outside the fence, we cannot help clear the filth and cleanse the political culture. We are duty bound to strive for building a system based on justice and charity and elimination of monetary, political, physical and intellectual corruption. Though the platform irked many in orthodox Jamaat members, but it was undoubtedly an encouraging experience to end alienation of Jamaat from political fraternity and create a healthy pressure group. Incarnation of WPI is a step further in the same direction.
Taking a leaf from Justice and Welfare Party of Turkey, and rethinking of Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwanul-Muslimeen) in Egypt Jamaat-e-Islami decided to take a leap and emerge on the political arena without compromising its present programs and activities in different religious and social fields. We can only hope that this will be a hard task. Emergence of a new organization with the association of large dedicated cadre of JIHind will surely be a challenge for many. Thoughtless criticism has already started especially in Urdu Media. We hope that the new outfit will desist from aggressive and confrontanist approach against the establishment and will adhere to value based activity.
Reporting on the launch of WPI, Manoj C G noted in Indian Express: A Christian priest reciting the Gaybatri Mantra at the launch of a new political party at the helm of which are top functionaries of the Jamaat-e-Islami-e-Hind, created a perfect secular backdrop for the leadership to assert that it was neither a Muslim party nor the political arm of the Jamaat.
Anxious not be seen as a Muslim-exclusive party, has non-Muslims, including a Catholic priest, in its ranks. The leadership of the WPI insisted it was a secular (read non-communal) party upholding the principles of justice, freedom and equality and seeking empowerment of the weak, oppressed and marginalised sections.
Manoj noted, the inclusion of Father Abraham Joseph, a priest from Kerala, as one of the vice-presidents, seems to have proved beneficial. To give WPI the non-Muslim tinge, he recited the Gayatri Mantra, much to the surprise of the gathering. “There is no harm. Nothing has happened here. We are one. We love each other,” the priest said. Joseph, the first Catholic priest to enter active politics, said that he has the permission of the Church.
The first challenge for the WPI would be the forthcoming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. Farooque. Addressing a press conference after the launch, said the party would join hands with like-minded political organisations. He rejected the notion that WPI was a Jamaat venture and argued that Jamaat has permitted some of its members to join the party.
Vidya Subrahmaniam while reporting in ‘The Hindu” was not so sure of non communal characte of the Party as : “two key office-bearers of the new party are from the JIH — Mujtaba Farooque, who is the president of WPI, is also a secretary of the JIH. Similarly, WPI's senior general secretary, SQR Ilyas, is a Majlis-e-Shoora member of the JIH.” He pointed out that of the 16 office-bearers announced, 11 were Muslims. This is a wrong assumption that presence of More Muslims will essentially make it a “no-Secular” that means “Communal” party. This assumption is the denial of the fact that majority of Hindus and Muslims of this country are non-communal. Neither associations predominant by Hindus, like communist parties, Congress, SP and BSP etc are communal nor the WPI will be a communal.
On dual presence of Mr. Farooq and Mr. Ilyas in the JIH and WPI it was clarified that “the Jamaat, which had till now prohibited its members from joining political parties, had lifted the ban enabling him and others to float the new party. Addressing the press conference, Mr. Ilyas insisted that the WPI would act as a secular political formation, dedicated to the interests of the poor and the marginalised. Over time it would reflect India's plural character, with members admitted from different caste, communities and regions. But most importantly, the party would represent “alternative politics, emerging as the voice of the voiceless, as a hope for equity and justice, and as a harbinger of new India.”
Mr. Ilyas read out the party's core objectives, including high moral standards and ethical values, inclusiveness and equity and empowerment of the weak. When it was pointed out that every political party made pretty much the same promises; Mr. Ilyas said, “Only those individuals will be allowed into the party who can prove by word and deed their commitment to the values and vision of the party.”
Reporting from the launching function Md. Ali quoted the founder President of WPI:“It’s not for fun and power that we entered politics. It’s only when everybody whom we trusted and became dependent upon, betrayed us and considered it’s their due right to oppress us. We felt that now we can’t continue with this kind of political system.”
“The criminalization, communalization, commercialization and the sectarianization of politics are the biggest evils of our prevailing political culture and the WPI is committed to start a new era of value-based politics,” added Farooque. “We might be late in terms of our arrival on the political stage but we promise you that with our genuine and sincere efforts we will try to create an alternative political culture,” added the President.
The WPI is the result of coming together of several concerned civil society representatives belonging to different backgrounds, communities, classes and social and political groups. Prominent of them include Father Abraham Joseph, Lalitha Nair, a former Karnataka minister and the prominent social activist from the state, Zafarul Islam Khan, Editor, The Milli Gazette fortnightly, Ilyas Azmi, former MP and senior leader of BSP, Prof. Rama Panchal, an eminent social activist from Madhya Pradesh, Prof. Sohail Ahmad Khan, former chairman, Bihar Minority Commission, Prof. Rama Surya Rao, an academician besides several others.
The convention was also attended by dalit leaders including Tej Singh, president, Ambedkar Samaj Party who offered his full support and cooperation to the WPI in future.
Father Abraham Joseph and Mrs. Lalitha Nair are among five vice-presidents of new outfit. Mr. Ilyas Azmi, former M.P. (BSP), Dr. Zafarul Islam Khan, Editor Milli Gazette Fortnightly and Maulana Abdul Wahab Khilji of Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadis are other vice-presidents.
The five general secretaries of the WPI are Dr. SQR Ilyas, Prof. Sohail Ahmad Khan, Prof. Rama Panchal, Mrs. Khalida Parveen and Mr. PC Hamza. Mr. Abdus Salam M has been made its treasurer. The party has started with just 203 members but will soon start a membership drive across the country.
Mr. Ali reported in TC.net, the occasion saw lots of speeches about ideal state of politics. SQR Ilyas, general secretary of WPI, for instance said that, “We wanted to show that even an ordinary person on the street can empower him/herself by becoming part of alternative democratic politics and that’s why launched WPI.”
Mujtaba Farooque, president of WPI said that “at present there are only two categories of people living in India, one is getting poorer day by day. It’s a class which can’t spend even 20 rupees per day and the other is getting only richer and richer. We want to change this oppressive process of marginalization by bringing about change through political participation.”
The WPI aims at realizing a value based welfare state governed by the principles of justice, freedom, equality and fraternity. It will strive for the establishment of the welfare state by recognizing and realizing the right to livelihood.
The other thing high on the agenda of WPI is facilitating “equitable, just and inclusive growth” besides bringing about empowerment of the weak and oppressed through “affirmative action realizing the principle of social justice.”
WPI leaders specifically emphasized the protection of cultural diversity by providing full opportunities to different cultures to thrive and realize the “notion of linguistic, geographical and cultural federalism.
With a middle class and media led campaign against corruption, the disease also found mention in the party press note. WPI claimed to stand against any kind of corruption and will advocate for “mechanisms of accountability and transparency at all levels of public life.”
Sending a positive message to the fairer sex, the party’s aims and objectives specifically talk about women rights in unique words. It mentions facilitating “equal growth and development opportunities for women” so that “their femininity is respected and protected in its true spirit.”
There are around 1200 political parties including 6 national parties, 44 regional parties and 1152 local political outfits in India. It’s yet to be seen whether the Welfare Party of India bring about some change or just increase the country.