Indian Islamic Leaders Demand End to Persecution

Demands for End of Muslim Persecution in Run-up to India's Elections

Oct 15, 2008

Muslim dissatisfaction is rising in the build-up to Indian general elections, as bombings by suspected Islamic militants trigger anti-terrorist crackdown.

Muslims make up 13 percent of India's 1.1 billion-plus population. Tensions in this minority group are rising in the build-up to the May 2009 general elections, with a growing feeling that neither the ruling Congress party (who lead India's coalition) or the main opposition, the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are catering for Muslim voters.

A major grievance for the Muslim population is the recent government-sponsored anti-terrorist crackdown, provoked by a spate of bombings allegedly by Islamic militants. The Indian Mujahideen militant group has claimed responsibility for several of the major attacks in the last months, including the September 13 Delhi bombs that killed at least 22 people. The ruling Congress party has been accused of indiscriminately targeting young Muslim men in the crackdown, who are arrested and paraded before the national media. Meanwhile Prime Minister Singh must take into account the agenda of the Opposition - the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party - who have recently called for harsher measures, accusing the government of following a policy of appeasement.

While hundreds of Islamic leaders united on Oct 14th to demand that the government end the ongoing persecution, other key Muslim figures have seen the indiscriminate violence of the anti-terrorist measures as motivation to find an alternative to the Congress party.

"They think we only have these two options", says Maulana Syed Ahmed Bukhari, influential leader of the Jama Masjid Mosque, the largest in North India. "But water will find its way, it will find its own level".

Muslims make up a key voter base for the secular ruling Congress party, and calls by influential Islamic leaders such as Bukhari for Muslims in India to find a third way will contribute to the pressure on the party in its bid for re-election, as it attempts to stem the BJP's growing electoral power along with its Hindu-nationalist sentiments.

"The Congress is really keen to establish its secular credentials and wants to show it is leading from the front" said Seema Desai, an analyst at consultancy Eurasia Group in London. "So Muslim leaders will be heard more than might have been the case in the run up to national elections."

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