MUMBAI: One element missing in the build-up to the Lok Sabha polls is statements and appeals by ulema or
clerics
. If no major Muslim organisation, including Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband or the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, has told community members which party or alliance to vote for,
community leaders
said it is because the silence is strategic.
Neither heads of major Muslim outfits nor Syed Ahmed Bukhari, the Shahi Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid, has so far issued appeals advising the community where it should cast its votes in the 2024 elections.
"
Muslim organisations
and their clerics are not making any vocal appeals. They know any move to give a call for
en bloc voting
will
polarise majority voters
. The clerics have chosen silence over loud statements," said Naved Hamid, former head of All India Majlis-e- Mushawarat, an umbrella organisation of over 50 Muslim bodies in the country.
In the past, many clerics drew flak from the community for issuing political statements. This time they are keeping quiet, not wading into issues and leaving it to the community's discretion. Head of Anjuman-I-Islam Zahir Kazi calls it "political maturity" of the clerics.
Hyderabad-based activist Mazher Hussain observed that the era of en bloc
voting
seems clearly over. The community must be tactful, regardless of the position taken by Maulvis.
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