Hassan Cheruppa Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — An Indian Muslim leader called on the ruling Congress Party to shoulder its historic responsibility of safeguarding the world's largest democracy's secular fabric, which has been threatened by the Hindu communal fascist forces. Speaking to Saudi Gazette, Siraj Ebrahim Sait, national secretary of Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), said that Indian Muslims should positively contribute to strengthening the consolidation of secular forces, led by the Indian National Congress, against the threat posed by the Hindu communal forces in the coming general elections. “Congress should show more accommodativeness and shall be ready to lead the secular forces after taking into account of the country's broader interests. For this, the party should learn lessons from the recent assembly election debacle and rectify mistakes,” he said. Sait, who was in the Kingdom on a short visit, is the son of the late world-renowned Indian Muslim leader and veteran parliamentarian Ebrahim Sulaiman Sait. Referring to the parliamentary elections due in April-May 2014, Sait said there is no scope for a Third Front as a viable alternative to Congress, and BJP, which is led by Narendra Modi, the leader of the Hindu communal forces. “The Third Front experiment has miserably failed in the past. We saw a number of prime ministers and so many prime ministerial aspirants within two or three years. Now, there are new prime ministerial aspirants like Jayalalitha, chief minister of the southern state of Tamil Nadu, and Mulayam Singh Yadav, former chief minister of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, who eye on a new Third Front platform, which is yet to be formed,” he said while claiming that Congress is the only alternative for people of the country, especially for minorities. Sait said that only Congress Party has the potential to save the country from the dangers posed by the Hindu communal forces led by the Gujarat state Chief Minister Modi, who allegedly experimented ‘ethnic cleansing' of Muslims in his state. “We are on the threshold of a crucial election in which a Hindu Fascist was portrayed as prime ministerial candidate of the major opposition party, which came to power earlier after playing dangerous communal cards. Several corporate business groups are playing behind the curtain, projecting him as India's next prime minister,” he said. Referring to the recent elections to five state legislatures, Sait said: “The Congress Party was defeated in three major states, which are traditional strongholds of BJP. It is high time for the Congress to show their vigor and determination in confronting Hindu communal forces effectively. The party has to rally secular democratic forces behind it after changing its adamant and rigid position on accommodating many secular parties by creating an impression that “we are the century-old great party and we will decide the course of the country by ourselves.” Sait attributed the defeat of Congress in recent provincial elections to its failure in highlighting its populist programs properly as well as the lack of dynamic and towering leadership plus corruption. “The party was instrumental in introducing three epoch-making legislations – right to information, right to education and food security bills – but miserably failed to take advantage of them in the election.” Sait, based in Bangalore, is the executive member of the major platforms of Indian Muslims, namely All India Muslim Personal Law Board, All India Milli Council, and All India Majlis-e-Mushawarat.
