Election time is the time to mingle with the minorities. Not just the Congress-NCP bosses in the state, but even the Hindutva leaders of the BJP are attending iftaars in this holy month of Ramzaan. To them, an iftaar party is a platform to woo the minorities. However, many among the Muslims are not impressed. They, in fact, detest these netas for trying to reap political harvests from a religious occasion.
“Roza is a very personal affair, followed by a Muslim out of devotion. I believe that its sanctity is lost when political leaders attend it,” said Maulana Mehmood Daryabadi, general secretary of the all-India ulema council. “It is objectionable when a person,who neither keeps roza, nor has any knowledge about it, join you at the moment that is of utmost importance.”
Daryabadi said that he had stopped attending such parties. Others in the community too are of opinion that iftaar has become more of a political circus. “We had appealed to the people to stop inviting political leaders to iftaar parties,” said Farid Khan of Quami Majlis-e-Shura.
Maulana Sayyed Athar, president of the council, said that the number of iftaar parties had gone by at least 15% this year. “The leaders believe that they will get a chance to woo the minority by holding and attending iftaar parties. However, the decision of whether to attend such a party or not should be left to individuals.”
The election code of conduct has restricted political parties from organising iftaars officially. Supporters and potential candidates are organising iftaars without using the names of the leaders participating in them. They are not using the party banners either.
Congress spokesperson Hussain Dalwai denied that political leaders gained mileage by attending iftaar parties. “It is a religious platform shared by people of various religions. Neither do I think that the number of such parties has gone up because of the polls. Nor do political parties reap from them,” he said.
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